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THE STORY OF A MAYALOK - USP OF BSP
By M H AHSAN
Mayawati and the BSP have confounded all political pundits and pollsters. Though exit polls had predicted that BSP would be the single largest party in the Uttar Pradesh elections, no one had foreseen the party touching the magic figure of 201 seats — the number needed to form the government — on its own. The BSP's performance is amazing on several counts.
It is the first time since 1991, when BJP won 221 seats in undivided UP, that a party has been so dominant at the hustings. It is also the first time in nearly 15 years that a stable government, unhindered by the pulls of coalition politics, will be in place in Lucknow.
The stunning victory for BSP is a vindication of Mayawati's long-term strategy to reach out beyond the traditional Dalit base of her party.
Well before the elections, the BSP chief had begun a series of 'Brahmin jodo sammelans' where the party reached out to Brahmins and upper castes.
Mayawati had realised that electoral arithmetic was against BSP if its support remained restricted to Dalits, who constitute about 21 per cent of UP's population.
So she wooed the Brahmins who, though at the other end of the caste spectrum, have been consistently marginalised in UP politics over the last two decades.
This was a clever exploitation of caste politics and an inversion of caste logic. This strategy along with the voter's disgust with Mulayam Singh's goonda raj worked wonders for BSP.
The BSP's win in UP could make it a force to reckon with in national politics. Throughout her campaign Mayawati had kept pointing to the list of her party's candidates for the UP polls: 139 from the forward castes, 110 OBCs, 93 from the scheduled castes and 61 Muslims.
The impressive diversity of its candidates, cutting across caste and religion, clearly paid dividends for BSP. This could well become the party's USP if it decides to seriously contest elections in other states.
Indeed, BSP could think of becoming an umbrella party on the lines of what Congress once stood for. Mayawati's strategy would, however, be an inversion of Congress politics where the upper castes were the key players.
Mayawati's strategy of inclusiveness stands a good chance of succeeding outside UP where Dalit politics has traditionally been virulently anti-upper caste.
In the last civic polls in Delhi, BSP for the first time won a handful of seats. If Mayawati plays her cards right, the BSP's elephant could become a familiar symbol across India.
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INSIDE STORY
