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Journalism of Courage
With the Lok Sabha elections inching closer, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has trouble in its hands as party MPs believe their re-election chances are in jeopardy over the party’s decision not to join any of the alliances in Uttar Pradesh and its general absence from the buzz around the coming elections.
On Sunday, BSP’s Ambedknagar MP Ritesh Pandey resigned from the party, alleging neglect, and joined the BJP in New Delhi. “For a long time, I have not been called to party meetings and the leadership is also not communicating with me. I made several attempts to contact and meet you and other top office-bearers but got no results. During this period, I kept meeting the public and workers and continued working in the constituency. I have concluded that the party does not need my service and presence anymore,” Pandey wrote in his resignation letter.
The BSP’s troubles don’t end with just Pandey. Its Jaunpur MP Shyam Singh Yadav is set to participate in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Agra days after BSP MP Danish Ali, who the party has suspended, joined the yatra in Amroha. Yadav had participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022 in his personal capacity and last year appealed to parties, including his own, to unite against the BJP.
With Mayawati inaccessible, the MPs are unsure if they will receive tickets this time. Of the 10 BSP MPs elected in 2019, Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari has received the Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket from the seat while Danish Ali is believed to be on the cusp of joining the Congress after attending the launch of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur and participating in it in Amroha.
Sources said the MPs had not been contacted yet by the party leadership to join the poll preparations. While at least one BSP MP was in touch with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) before it announced its decision to join the NDA, another MP, from eastern UP, is believed to be in contact with the BJP. The MP is believed to have helped the BJP in the Ghosi Assembly bypoll last year, though the party eventually lost to the SP.
Before he received the green signal from the BJP, Pandey, having failed to get in touch with the BSP, started setting up a parallel organisation in his constituency down to the booth level, and was preparing to contest as an Independent. He is now expected to get the BJP ticket from Ambedkarnagar.
Mayawati has stuck to a policy of staying away from both the NDA and Opposition INDIA alliance. On Sunday, as Pandey announced his resignation from the party, she posted on X, “BSP MPs have to check themselves whether they took proper care of the people of their area? Did you devote full time to your constituency? Also, have you properly followed the guidelines given from time to time in the interest of the party and the movement?”
Mayawati added, “In such a situation, is it possible to give tickets to most of the Lok Sabha MPs, especially when they are seen wandering here and there in their own interests and are in negative news? It is unfair for the media to publicise this as a weakness of the party despite knowing all this. Party interest of BSP is paramount.”
On the face of previous instances and numbers, yes. To date, the BSP has reached power only in alliance with other parties — BJP, SP, and some others — and won on its own only in 2007 when the party of the Bahujan raised the slogan of “sarvajan hitay (welfare of all)”. But since then the party has retreated to its core vote base of Jatav Dalits and electorally it is now a case of diminishing returns. The party can win only if it connects with voters outside its traditional base and that will be possible only if it enters into alliances.
With the BSP’s electoral fortunes on the decline since 2012, its 10 seats in 2019, marking a revival, came in alliance with the SP and the RLD. In comparison, in 2014, the BSP had drawn a blank. After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP parted ways with the SP and fought the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022 alone. It won just one seat and a vote share of just over 12%.
But Mayawati has stuck to the policy of going it alone despite the numbers pointing to the fact that the BSP needs partners to survive. The BSP chief has preferred to maintain a policy of maintaining equal distance from both the BJP-led NDA and the INDIA alliance of Opposition parties. The BSP in recent days has cut ties with the Akali Dal in Punjab, saying it is in talks with the BJP, and the regional Gondwana Gantantra Party with which it had tied up for the Assembly elections last year in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
