Opinion Cracking the UP test
Could the Samajwadi Party era signal a new cooperation and goodwill between state and Centre?
Could the Samajwadi Party era signal a new cooperation and goodwill between state and Centre?
The Samajwadi Partys resounding victory in this assembly election was as unexpected as the massive win by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 2007. The results point to the rejection of caste politics in favour of the development that was symbolised by Akhilesh Yadav,who managed to amalgamate the cycles traditional appeal with the modernity of laptops and tablets. But the win has placed double the responsibility on the SP it has to perform and commit itself to sustained development,but it will also be required to vindicate its promise to wipe out goondaism. The concerns of development led to the consolidation of subalterns,who put their eggs in the SP basket.
It is unfortunate for the BSP that it failed to sustain the social engineering and inclusive politics for which it was given credit in 2007. In fact,the Congress in 2009 and the SP in this election have taken advantage of inclusive politics. Since 2007,there appears to be a clear scheme in UP regarding the acceptance of inclusive politics to the marginalisation of exclusionary,caste-based,cleavage politics. The BSP failed because of its misgovernance and disconnect with the people. Mayawati failed to resolve the contradictions of inclusive politics and social engineering. The Dalits felt marginalised in the partys leadership structure and government positions,owing to the influx of upper castes. They were also economically displaced by the upper castes as many jobs like scavenging,traditionally reserved for them,were opened up to upper castes. Significantly,CSDS data shows that the BSP not only lost Dalit votes,it also lost its core Jatav votes. The steady shrinkage of the political and economic space for Dalits,owing to the influx of the Brahmins,cost Mayawati dearly.
The Congress and the BJP both seem to have done fairly badly in this election. In spite of Rahul Gandhis best efforts to carry forward the election campaign in a very aggressive manner,the party did not do well. This is unfortunate,because in the 2009 parliamentary elections,the Congress registered an accretion in the support of each and every section of the society,especially the Muslims and the most backward. The party failed to appreciate that the days of cosmetic politics are over and people expect them to practise a truly substantive politics. It appears to have realised that without a robust party organisation and active party workers connected to their constituencies,there is no scope for the partys revival.
The BJP failed all round it failed on the much hyped micro-management of electoral campaigns,as also the social engineering by Nitin Gadkari (he incurred the anger of party members by inducting Babulal Kushwaha and Uma Bharti as leaders of the most backward). The people clearly disapproved of the double standards displayed by the party for petty electoral gains.
The high voter turnout was very substantially made up of young and new voters,but they,in all probability,did not exercise their votes as a class. They were divided on gender,educational and urban-rural lines. It was believed that such voters,largely mobilised by the Anna Hazare movement,would go against the Congress and also against the incumbent government. The BJPs efforts to rope in Kushwaha appear to have greatly alienated such voters,who might have otherwise seen it as a clean party and voted for it.
By giving a clear majority to the SP,the electorate seems to be taking on the role of examiners. In 2007,they gave a clear mandate to the BSP and rejected it for non-performance. This time,the new and small parties could not harm the SP as much as they were expected to.
The new SP government is a sign of a new optimism where the people can expect development through cooperation and goodwill between the Centre and the state,an issue that greatly hampered the development of UP during Mayawatis tenure.
The writer teaches politics in Christ Church College,Kanpur
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