Mayawati shines 2007 script in Uttar Pradesh

Mayawati works up Brahmin card in Lok Sabha elections

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, April 13: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is revisiting her 2007 social engineering script in the Lok Sabha elections. The BSP is making a determined effort to send out a message of seriousness in Uttar Pradesh.

The BSP has fielded a large number of Muslim, Brahmin, and extremely backward caste (EBC) candidates in UP. Mayawati had led the BSP to power in the state in the 2007 Assembly elections by scripting the social engineering.

Political commentators are noting the lists of the BSP candidates with imprints of 2007 social engineering script. Mayawati had stitched an equation by roping in Brahmins and Muslims in 2007.

The BSP in its fresh list of candidates has fielded a good number of Brahmin candidates in the eastern parts of UP. The BSP has tactfully fielded a large number of Muslim candidates in the western parts of the state.

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Besides, the BSP has fielded a large number of candidates from the EBC section in the state. The BSP is sending out a message in the state that the party is bracing for a revival of the party’s social base in UP.

In the latest list for UP, the BSP has fielded Brahmin candidates from Faizabad, Basti, and Dhourahara Lok Sabha seats. The BSP has given tickets to Sacchindanand Pandey, Dayashankar Mishra, and Shyam Kishore Awasthy from the three parliamentary constituencies.

Out of 25 candidates announced by the BSP, nine hail from the minority community. The BSP has fielded nine Muslim candidates in the last two lists. The BSP has mostly fielded Muslim candidates in the western parts of the state.

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The BSP had a rich haul of Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections. The Mayawati-led outfit had outsmarted the Samajwadi Party by sending most of the Muslim MPs to the Lok Sabha.

The BSP has not repeated the winning candidates of 2019. Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur has joined the SP. Danish Ali from Amroha has joined the Congress. The BSP is eying consolidation of the Muslim-Dalit vote base in the western parts of the state.

To give credence to the BSP’s ‘go solo’ approach, the Mayawati-led outfit is going all out to attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BSP scion Akash Anand is keeping his sharpest of the attacks in his public meetings for the BJP.

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Anand is even calling the BJP leaders ‘true deshdrohi (traitors)’ for rampant unemployment in the country. “The next time you see them (the BJP leaders), throw this bag of free ration to their faces,” Anand told his audience in UP.

By fielding Brahmin candidates in the eastern parts of the state, the BSP is threatening to eat into the vote base of the BJP. The BSP at the same time is asserting the party’s claims on Muslim vote base in western parts of the state.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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