Danish Ali suspended, why it may hurt BSP’s west UP prospects in Lok Sabha polls

While the BSP has focused its campaign for next year’s elections on Dalits and Muslims, there is a feeling among the minority community that the party will not take on the BJP like the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP), both of which are part of INDIA alliance. The BSP fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a part of the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) with the SP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), winning 10 seats. Three of its MPs — Ali from Amroha, Haji Fazlur Rehman from Saharanpur, and Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur – are Muslims.

Meanwhile, Mayawati has also stayed mum on most issues concerning the minority community and alienated it further, pushing it towards the SP. This alienation was evident in the 2022 Assembly polls, when Muslim votes for the SP propelled the party’s 34 candidates from the minority community to victory.

Why he may have been suspended

BSP insiders said Ali’s proximity to the Congress and the INDIA bloc was likely to have contributed to his suspension. “Everyone knows that Mayawati likes her leaders to parrot the party’s line and anyone crossing it faces the axe. Ali was showing too much concern for Moitra and met Rahul Gandhi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. All this may have contributed to his suspension,” said a senior BSP leader.

Rahul met Ali after the Amroha MP was at the receiving end of communal slurs from BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri on the floor of the Lok Sabha in September. The matter is pending before the House Privileges Committee. The month before, Ali was also one of the first MPs to greet Rahul in Parliament after the Wayanad MP’s membership was restored following the stay on his conviction by the Supreme Court in a defamation case.

BSP MP Danish Ali (left) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (right). (Photo/X/@RahulGandhi)

A Congress leader who was part of the meeting between Rahul and Ali said the BSP leader was “impressed by Rahul Gandhi” and was in touch with his team. “We will try to get Ali on board. It will benefit both. He has carved a niche for himself outside the BSP, which will be helpful for both sides in the Lok Sabha polls,” said the Congress functionary

A BSP leader from the minority community expressed unhappiness with the party’s decision. “He (Ali) had carved out an identity for himself. He was one of the most vocal BSP MPs and his suspension is a loss for the party. He spoke on issues of Muslims in Parliament. His departure will have an impact on the mindset of Muslims in western UP,” said the leader who is from the region.

Support for BJP government

Over the past five years, the BSP has supported the BJP’s decisions that have been opposed by other Opposition parties both inside and outside Parliament. When the Modi government tabled the Women’s Reservation Bill during the special session of Parliament in September, Mayawati demanded reservation for SC, ST and OBC women but clarified that her party would support the law.

Over the G20 invitation mentioning “President of Bharat”, she criticised the Opposition parties for calling themselves INDIA. Mayawati also said her party “was not against” the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) but did not support the way the BJP was pushing to implement it. During the campaign for the recently concluded elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana, the BSP chief reserved the strongest criticism for the Congress.

BSP MPs, barring Ali, also attended the inauguration of the new Parliament building in May while over 20 Opposition parties announced a boycott of the event saying President Droupadi Murmu should have inaugurated it instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mayawati also supported NDA’s presidential and vice-presidential nominees. Earlier, the BSP opposed the Triple Talaq Bill but abstained from voting in Parliament. In August 2019, the BSP backed the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Ali has had a topsy-turvy relationship with the BSP leadership. After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party appointed him as chief whip in the Lok Sabha and hours before the first session of Parliament, he was elevated to the post of party leader in the Lower House. However, that August, Jaunpur MP Shyam Singh Yadav replaced Ali only for the Amroha MP to be reappointed three months later. In January 2020, he was replaced again, this time by Ambedkar Nagar MP Ritesh Pandey.

A BSP leader told The Indian Express that Ali was removed from the post as he did not toe the party line on crucial issues like Triple Talaq and abrogation of Article 370. “He had also skipped Mayawati’s birthday celebrations in January 2020 as he thought such events must be avoided amid uproar on issues like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).”