BSP

BSP

Upsetting the equations

“The balance of power lies with me” said Kanshi Ram to mammoth Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rally in New Delhi last month. Although he is uncertain about his strength and allies in the 1989 elections, Kanshi Ram sounded quite confident of capturing power by the end of this century. He bases his optimism on electoral statistics and the belief that he is the leader of the downtrodden casts. A former IAS officer, Kanshi Ram resigned from his post when he was refused permission to organize celebrations for Ambedkar’s anniversary.

            Soon after the establishment of BAMCEF (Backward and Minorities Classes Employees Federation) in 1978, Kasnshi Ram became a cult figure. After approximately three years he formed the mass organization DS-w (Dalit Shoshist Samaj Sangarsh Samiti). The party became popular in the entire Hindi belt and in Punjab, and led to a meteoric rise in the popularity of Kanshi Ram. In 1984 he decided to enter the electoral fary and founded the BSP on the infrastructure provided by DS-4 and BAMCEF. By 1987, Kanshi Ram and his BSP had become a force to be reckoned with. In the Allahabad by election in 1988, Kanshi Ram secured 19.2 per cent of votes despite the VP Singh factor. The increasing strength of BSP alarmed the ruling party leaders who approached Kanshi Ram for electoral alliance.

Ram Dhan, the disgruntled Janta Dal leader, say that the traditional votes of the Congress have been weaned away by the BSP due to the discriminatory government policy against Harijans and other deprived castes. He forwards the examples of denial of promotion to the scheduled caste officers and the discriminatory payment by the government of Rs20,000 to next of kin of the victims of fatasl accidents belonging to upper castes and only Rs 10,000 to those of Harijans.

            Citing statistics of the electoral gains of his party in the by- elections (from 2.4 per cent of 27 per cent in 1988) Kanishi Ram claimed that his party has become the leading party in Utter Pradesh. He calculates that to win an election a party) needs 33-34 per cent of the vote.

Kanshi Ram plans of field 240 candidates for the coming parliamentary elections from the Hindi belt in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra. He plans to field candidates in south and east India too. Subrahmanyam Swami of Vanniyar Sangam, has expressed support to the BSP.

Communists are the main target group of the BSP, as they are dominated by upper castes and are surviving on a base which belongs to Kanshi Ram BB. Meshram, Office Secretary of the BSP’s central office   in Delhi, while evading the questions related to the policies and programmes of the party asserted that in a few year time BSP would demolish the communists from the political map of India. He took to task all those low castes, who are in other parties. He is opposed to the concept of collective ownership and feels that an egalitarian social structure will automatically follow the ascendance of BSP to political power.

The BSP with a membership of two lakh in its trade union front, BAMCEF, claims the support of Sikh and Muslim minorities. Kanshi Ram counting on the strength of Namdari Sikhs – the chamar converts asserts “I can smash the Akali Dal at any time”.

Announcing his decision of no truck with V P Singh, Kanshi Ram characterized the Janata Dal as representative of AJGAR (Ahir Jat. Gujar and Rajpur) – the feudal forces. He said “I don’t allow Brahmins and Thakurs to join our party, in allow them to vote for us.” He is of the opinion that  “all the other political parties except Congress – I have become irrelevant”. According to him, “the opposition has already been wiped out and the Congress – I will be wiped out by 199”.

Whether BSP’s logic works out to its expectations is a matter of speculation. The emergence of the BSP as a force to be reckoned with has caused concern not only in the liberal and rightist political parties but also among the leftist parties.  

1988