Why Maywati’s Dalit Vote Bank has shrunk?
S.R.Darapuri I.P.S. (Retd) and National Spokesman All India
Peoples Front
Commenting on the recent rout of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
in Lok Sabha election Mayawati has attributed it to Brahmans, Backwards and
Muslims having been misled and hence not voting for BSP. She added that they
may have to repent afterwards. As such she has clearly admitted the failure of
her much trumpeted up “social engineering” formula. Mayawati has also
attributed her failure at election to her having extended support to Congress
lead UPA government. She has further accused Congress and Samajvadi Party (SP)
for spreading the rumour that Dalit vote bank is shifting to Bhartiya Janta
Party (BJP) and thereby mislead Muslims and Backwards. But along with it she
has also claimed that in spite of her failure to win a single seat her Dalit
vote bank has remained intact.
Now let us test the truth of this claim in the light of
available data:-
If we look at the result of various elections since 2007 it
becomes clear that since the beginning of Mayawati ‘s Sarvjan Politics (All
People) in place of Bahujan (Majority of People)Politics in 2007 vote base of
BSP has continuously shrunk. In 2007 Assembly election BSP got 30.46 %, in 2009
Lok Sabha election 27.42 % (-3.02%), in 2012 Assembly election 25.90 % (-1.52%)
and now in 2014 Lok Sabha election it has come down to 19.60 % (-6.30%). It clearly shows that Mayawati’s claim of her
Dalit vote bank remaining intact is not correct.
Mayawati’s claim that her Dalit vote bank in Uttar Pradesh
(U.P.) has increased from 1.51 Crores in 2009 to 1.60 Crores in 2014 is also
not correct because out of a total increase of 1.61 Crore voters her share has
remained limited to 9 lacs voters only. According
to figures released by National Election Commission the vote share of BSP has
scaled down to 4.1% from 6.17 % in 2009 after suffering a fall of 2 %. Sanjay
Mohan, the Director of Centre for Study of Developing Societies has also hinted
at an encroachment on Dalit vote bank of Mayawati.
Mayawati’s blame that misguided Dalits have voted for BJP is
also baseless. She knows it well that a large chunk of Dalits including
Chamaras who are said to be highly committed to Mayawati, had moved away from
her during 2012 Assembly elections. One of the main reasons for it is that
Mayawati has sold Dalit politics to the same mafias, goons and capitalists who
are their class enemies. Antagonised with this a large number of Chamars and other
Dalit sub castes have moved away from BSP. It is well known that Mayawati sold the
Assembly and Parliamentry tickets by auction, sold Dalits votes like sheep and
goats to any body and boasted of having the power to transfer Dalit votes to anyone.
This antagonised the Dalits after some time. That is why during last Assembly
election and during recent Lok Sabha election Dalits have cut her to size and
have abandoned her in large numbers.
In the absence of any
Dalit development agenda and pursuing the politics of chair Dalits got
disillusioned with her. During her tenure of four times Chief Ministership of
U.P. Dalits did not get any material gain. On the contrary according to one
study barring Dalits of Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajsthan Dalits of U.P. stand behind Dalits of all
other states when judged on the development parameter like Male/Female Literacy
Rate, Male/Female/0-6 years Child Sex Ratio and Work Participation Rate
(Regular Employment). Mayawati’s personal and political corruption deprived the Dalits from the benefits of various
government welfare schemes. On the other hand her party rank holders and her
ministers prospered like anything. Dalit resentment against this has been
manifested in these elections. It is a fact there are about 40 Lok Sabha
constituencies which have Dalit population above 25 %. In 2009 BSP secured
second position in 17 seats but now it has come down to 11. It is thus clear
that Mayawati’s claim of Dalit vote bank remaining intact is against the
available facts.
In 2012 Assembly Mayawati had blamed the Muslims for not
voting for her party. Now again she has not only blamed them but has also said
that they may have to repent afterwards. Mayawati forgets the fact that she
herself is responsible for forcing the Muslims to distance themselves from her
party. In 1993 Muslims had voted for wholeheartedly with the expectation that
she will give them protection and work for their advancement. But in 1995 it
was Mayawati who with her lust for Chief Ministership of U.P. joined hands with
BJP, the declared enemy of Muslims. After this she twice sought help from BJP
to occupy the Chief Ministership of U.P.
Not only this in 2003 she gave a clean chit to Narinder Modi over massacre
of 2000 Muslims in Gujrat in 2002 and also went for electioneering in Assembly
elections in Gujrat. There is no guarantee that she will not again join hands
with BJP. In the face of this shameless opportunism, how does Mayawati expect
Muslims to continue to vote for her. Her silence over Muzaffarnagar riots also
added to their antagonism.
Mayawati’s refusal to admit any of her faults for her
failure has further antagonised Dalits and Muslims. Last time she had blamed
the Muslims for it. This time she is putting blame on her support for Congress
lead UPA government under the pretext of keeping away communal forces from government.
But it does not seem to be very convincing. The fact is that her fear of CBI
because of her Disproportionate Property case compelled her to support UPA and
this case is still hanging in Supreme Court. The same fear may again compel her
to be soft towards BJP. Mayawati herself is responsible for this sorry state of
affairs.
From the above brief discussion it is clear that Dalits have
slammed Mayawati’s Sarvjan formula. The Muslims have also moved away from her.
At present the biggest challenge to
Dalits, Muslims, Labour class, farmers, small entrepreneurs and petty shop
keepers is from the pro Corporate, Hindutva and fascist politics which cannot
be faced by opportunist, blackmailing and pro Corporate politics of Mayawati
and Mulayam Singh type politicians. It is required that all Leftists,
Progressive and Ambedkarite forces should come together to oppose Corporate and
Fascist politics by adopting pro people politics.
At the end I would like to reiterate the comments of Naom
Chomasky , the world renowned political thinker in which on 15th May at Boston
he said,"The
extreme right forces will take over India. India is in for a danger. It
is a very dangerous situation. The BJP will come to power like the
Nazis did in Germany through populist measures. The BJP is following the
same model. The Congress has miserably failed to check these forces. It
is the responsibility of all shades of the leftist and other
progressive forces to come together and accept this challenge and change
the situation."
(On that day Naom Chomasky had delivered his one and a half hour lecture in Cambridge Public Library on Foreign Policy of America. He gave this reaction in an informal talk with Ram Sharan Joshi).
(On that day Naom Chomasky had delivered his one and a half hour lecture in Cambridge Public Library on Foreign Policy of America. He gave this reaction in an informal talk with Ram Sharan Joshi).
