For colourful Mayawati, the die is caste in Akbarpur

Casteism has pushed socialism to the background in eminent socialist Dr Ram Manohar Lohia's birth place. Yet, this does not mean a cakewalk ...

Casteism has pushed socialism to the background in eminent socialist Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s birth place. Yet, this does not mean a cakewalk in Akbarpur for BSP leader Mayawati. Far from it, the former chief minister is set to have a tough time, with the upper and intermediary castes rallying against her.

In what is considered a BSP bastion — three out of five assembly constituencies are held by the party and the outgoing MP, Ghanshyam Chandra Kharwar, belongs to it too — the upper castes and influential backward castes such as the Yadavs and Kurmis have suddenly made Mayawati’s calculations go haywire.

The caste factor has been dominant in Akbarpur, a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, with large-scale “use” of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act during Mayawati’s six-month rule in the State. Trying to make the most of the caste divide, both the BJP and Samajwadi Party (SP) are trying to cash in on ant-Mayawati sentiments.

“We have suffered so much during her six-month rule and can’tafford to elect her for five years,” says Mata Prasad Pandey of Mijhoda. An SP activist, Fauji, nods: “The upper castes will decide to vote en block after February 10 for either the SP or BJP candidate, whichever of them is stronger on the day.”

Except for the SC/ST Act, there appears to be no other issue in Akbarpur. BSP workers, though, have been exhorting people to elect Mayawati to get a “taste of Amethi-type development” in their constituency, but no one seems to be listening.

Workers of various political parties in Akbarpur have caste equations on their fingertips. They also reel off vote share of various parties during the past two elections.

The BSP won the seat in 1996 polled only 1.99 lakh votes, but in the assembly polls held barely four months later, its polled 2.48 lakh votes, an increase of 25 per cent.

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The BJP’s vote share increased from 1.75 lakh to 1.96 lakh while the SP increased its kitty from 1.69 lakh to 2.34 lakh votes.

The 12.45-lakh electorate here consists of about 35per cent upper castes, 20 per cent Muslims, 15 per cent OBCs, 25 per cent SCs including a sizeable 15 per cent Chamars and 5 per cent other castes, as per unofficial estimates.

The Muslims are here perceived to be siding with the SP, OBCs with the BJP and SCs with the BSP. The fight thus remains between the BJP and SP for a major share of upper caste anti-Mayawati votes.

However, both BJP and SP supporters swear they will switch their loyalties at the last moment according to the way the wind is blowing. If that happens in a major scale, Mayawati will be in trouble. If it does not, the former chief minister will find herself in Parliament.