Mayawati’s emotional tribute to a ‘brother who never betrayed’ her
With the death of Uma Shankar Singh, the BSP has lost someone who was its link to the Thakur community.
Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) lone Uttar Pradesh MLA, Uma Shankar Singh (Credits: X/@Satish Mahana) Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) lone Uttar Pradesh MLA, Uma Shankar Singh, who died on August 5, was not just the face of the party in the state Assembly but was also the man whom party chief Mayawati had assigned the responsibility of consolidating links with the Kshatriya (Thakur) upper-caste community ahead of Assembly polls.
For the BSP, his death is a setback to its social engineering plans to connect Dalits with Thakurs, the sort of broad social coalition that had helped it win the 2007 Assembly elections and one that it was hoping could help its attempts to revive in next year’s Assembly polls. Singh’s importance to the party reflected in
In an unusually emotional tribute that was as much about personal loyalty as political association, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday mourned Singh, recalling him as a leader who stood by her through the party’s decline and describing him as the only “brother” from outside the Scheduled Caste community who never “ditched” her.
A businessman-contractor and three-term MLA from Rasra in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia district, Singh represented an increasingly rare political asset for the BSP: a non-Dalit leader with a strong personal electoral base who continued to stay with the party despite its shrinking footprint.
“Many became my brothers, but everyone except the Scheduled Castes betrayed and left me. He never did,” Mayawati said in an emotional tribute at Singh’s Lucknow home, noting that his death had come ahead of Raksha Bandhan, the festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters.
“From the time he joined the BSP, he discharged his responsibilities with complete honesty, dedication and loyalty. He never betrayed the BSP,” said the former CM. “You know that he was a businessman. Businessmen often switch parties when there is a change in power. There were ups and downs, but he never betrayed the party.”
Mayawati had praised Singh at a public meeting at the Kanshiram memorial in Lucknow on October 9 last year, saying, “He has been assigned specific responsibility to connect people of his community with the party and he is fulfilling that responsibility with complete honesty and loyalty.”
While the BSP chief is known for not attending the family functions of her party leaders, two years ago she attended the wedding of Singh’s son to BJP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh’s daughter. Last year, Mayawati had visited his home in Lucknow to inquire about his health and also tied “raakhi”.
A popular legislator
Singh first won Rasra in 2012, retained it in 2017, and won for a third consecutive time in 2022 despite the BSP suffering a statewide collapse. However, his popularity did not rest entirely on the BSP’s traditional vote. Over successive elections, he cultivated what local observers described as a substantial personal support base because he helped his constituents, including providing financial help and introducing free WiFi in parts of Rasra. That, along with his accessibility, helped Singh survive the BSP’s political decline.
The BSP leader was under the scanner this February following the Income-Tax Department’s raids at his home in Lucknow and in other districts. At the time, Dinesh Pratap Singh questioned the timing of the raids, saying Uma Shankar had been undergoing treatment for cancer for two years. “Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) helped a lot in his treatment on humanitarian grounds. Prime Minister’s Office too helped by pursuing his case with the US,” the minister said at the time.
The BSP leader made his career in the civil construction business and was known for his cross-party connections and good ties with the bureaucracy.
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