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Journalism of Courage
After splitting the Dalit vote in the Lok Sabha elections, dealing a severe jolt to the Congress-NCP alliance, Mayawati8217;s BSP this time failed to pick up even one seat in the Assembly polls.
The party had fielded candidates in 272 of the 288 seats, the largest number contested by any party in the state. Mayawati had criss-crossed the region, projecting herself as a 8216;8216;Dalit ki beti8217;8217;, indulging in Congress-bashing that drew crowds.
Her candidates, mostly rebels drawn from Congress and NCP, were a motley group of OBC farmers, Muslims traders and Marwari businessmen. The truly powerful rebels in Vidarbha and western Maharashtra chose to contest as independents.
The strategy didn8217;t work. Barring two candidates who came second, none of Mayawati8217;s new-found Manuwadi-bashers made any impact on voters. Despite being better organised than her local counterparts 8212; the Republican Party of India8217;s leaders 8212; Mayawati8217;s gameplan had some crucial flaws. For one, unlike in the LS polls, when the BSP had chosen candidates keeping the case equation in mind, especially in Vidarbha, this time, it had picked contestants indiscriminately. For instance, the party had cleverly fielded a Kunbi from Nagpur, a Lodhi in Bhandara and one from Teli in Chimur during the LS polls.
This was despite the fact that the BSP did not have a single high-profile state-level leader to lead the campaign. Mayawati had preferred to project herself as 8216;8216;the leader8217;8217;, visiting the state on whirlwind tours. She even ensured only one chair was put up on the dais, while local leaders stood behind her at rallies.
Mayawati also chose to junk local civic issues in favour of broader themes such as Manuwad and her personal 8216;8216;victimisation8217;8217; at all the rallies. She even miscalculated the importance of the Vidarbha statehood issue. She repeatedly declared that her party would ensure a separate Vidarbha and name it after Dr B.R. Ambedkar. She seemed to have ignored the fact that in the LS polls, Prakash Ambedkar and Shetkari Sanghatana leader Sharad Joshi, who had formed a front to push a separate Vidarbha, had failed to win over voters. She had even overlooked that the renaming issue was a sensitive one 8212; when the Marathwada University was named after Ambedkar, it sparked off riots in 1978 and the issue simmered for 16 years till a new name, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, was accepted.
Besides, the Congress-NCP combine focussed on the need to have the same party at the Centre and the state. Top leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar, blamed the NDA for ignoring Maharashtra during the drought. And the BSP was portrayed as its agent.
The alliance also consolidated its position among Dalit voters. RPI leader Ramdas Athavale was promised a seat in the Union Cabinet.
