Mayawati points fingers again, this time at Jat ‘anti-Dalit’ sentiment, suggests ally INLD did not pull its weight in Haryana

Mayawati went on to argue that the Jats who were angry with the BJP due to its government’s “anti-farmer” policies, largely chose the Congress instead of the INLD-BSP alliance. Hence, she argued, while the INLD could not pool in enough Jat votes for BSP candidates, the BSP was able to transfer its Dalit votes to INLD candidates.

In the Haryana Assembly elections that just ended, the INLD contested 53 seats and won two – Dabwali and Rania – with a 4.14% vote share. The BSP contested 37 seats, including all the 17 SC-reserved ones in the state, but drew a blank, with 1.82% vote share.

Mayawati said the rift within the Chautala family had also harmed the INLD’s and hence the BSP’s prospects, helping the BJP. “Our candidates got only Dalit votes but not Jat votes. We could have won a few seats even if a few Jats (2-3%) voted in our favour,” she said.

It is not the first time Mayawati has blamed allies, specifically for non-transference of votes, for poor showing by the BSP in an election.

Following the bitter break-up with the Samajwadi Party (SP) after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, where her party won 10 seats, Mayawati claimed a review of the results showed that her party had not gained from the alliance. “The SP’s core voters – the Yadavs – drifted away from the alliance even in SP strongholds,” she said.

The BSP chief’s claim was based on the fact that the SP’s Yadav candidates in five seats – Jhansi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Badaun and Firozabad – got less than half of the combined number of votes that the SP and BSP candidates got in 2014.

Then, following its worst-ever performance in UP Assembly elections in 2022, winning one seat with a 12.8% vote share, Mayawati blamed the Muslims, saying by throwing their weight behind the SP, they had caused the upper caste and OBC Hindu votes to consolidate in favour of the BJP. She said the fear of “the SP’s jungle raj” also played a role.

“To defeat the BJP, Muslims shifted from the ‘tried and tested’ BSP to the SP. This wrong decision cost us heavily as the fear of jungle raj under the SP among BSP supporters, upper-case Hindus and OBCs made them consolidate in favour of the BJP… It was a harsh lesson… We will keep this experience in mind and change accordingly,” she said, while insisting that Dalits, especially from the Jatav community, firmly backed her.

The BSP supremo lashed out at Muslims following the BSP’s drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha polls too, where it drew a blank. Claiming the community “misunderstood” her party, Mayawati said the BSP will now give opportunities to Muslims only after much thought. The remarks came after the BSP did not gain any advantage from fielding 35 Muslim candidates – the most by any party – in a bid to broaden the party’s support base.