By Vanya Mehta, TwoCircles.net,
After the polls closed in Nagpur, where competing factors include the Brahmin BJP candidate Nitin Gadkari and the incumbent Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar, around 30 male supporters of the Ambedkarite pro-Dalit Bahujan Samaj Party scattered around in groups at the BSP’s Nagpur office discussing the elections.
Milind Bansur, the BSP-Nagpur’s chief organizer, reluctantly sat with me to discuss the goals and role of the BSP in Nagpur. “Other political parties do politics,” Mr. Bansur said from the start. “The BSP is focused on our mission to follow Babasaheb Ambedkar’s doctrine of forming a casteless society. Our philosophy is different.”
In a city that hosts the famous Deekshabhoomi, a large Buddhist monument in the center of town built on the location where Dr. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism, the BSP would presumably have quite a large following. This has not been the case. “The sub-castes have been divided,” Mr. Bansur said. He believes “the lower castes will have to develop a relationship to decrease the divide among each other.”
In the last Lok Sabha elections in Nagpur, the BSP got 16 percent of the vote which was a jump from 7% votes polled in 2004. However, in 2009 Assembly election in the state, BSP’s 281 candidates were able to poll merely 2.4% of total votes. The BSP has profited slightly from the fractionalization of other Dalit parties but this has not translated into success like in Uttar Pradesh.
According to Mr. Bansur, one of the primary reasons for the success of the BSP in Uttar Pradesh over Maharashtra is numbers. He said the Dalit population in UP is larger and therefore has been more “politically effective.”
Maharashtra, which is a hotbed for Dalit activism, has spawned several different Dalit parties such as the RPI under the leadership of Ramdas Athawale, which has now coalesced into the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, and the PRP, BREM, and RPI-D, which has now joined the UPA. A variety of theories are posited as to why these groups have failed to work together to form one large Dalit party. Dalit activist Pravin Gaikwad, who runs an Ambedkar bookstore in Nagpur, believes the source of this fragmentation is triumph of personal interests over ideology.
Mr. Bansur’s view is that the BSP is more successful than the RPI factions because they are “using the name of Ambedkar but have derailed from his philosophy.” He added that the BSP might not be as strong because they are not doing on the ground agitations or violent protests.
Former BSP Vice President of BSP-Nagpur, Aman Santosh Kamle, who now runs a TV Channel called “Awaz India,” that is devoted to covering issues pertinent to the “downtrodden” in India, believes BSP President Mayawati is increasing the divide in the party.
“Kanshi Ram, the founder of the BSP, had the heart of a mother,” Mr. Kamle said. “Mayawati doesn’t have this heart.”
The Indian media has struggled to get interviews with Mayawati, as she does not like to meet with press, but according to Mr. Kamle, she doesn’t even meet with other leaders of the BSP. “She does not meet with people,” he said. “Mayawati does not have the vision of Kanshi and because of her, BSP is going down.”
In 2009 Lok Sabha election BSP won 21 seats- 20 of those were in Uttar Pradesh and one in Madhya Pradesh. BSP is a national party and has won seats in the past in Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and of course Uttar Pradesh but never in Maharashtra- this election is not going to be any different for BSP in this state.