10

Oct

Fight for legacy of Kanshiram in Uttar Pradesh

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New Delhi, 10, October 2023

Fight for the legacy of Kanshiram in Uttar Pradesh 


Dr Satish Misra     

On the death anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshiram falls on October 9, the Congress launched its ‘Dalit Gaurav Samvad’ (Dialogue for Dalit Pride) in the country’s biggest state of Uttar Pradesh.

One half-month-long outreach programme aims at spreading the BSP founder’s ideology that hopes to reconnect with Dalits who used to be the party’s main constituency not only at UP but across the country. Dalit share in UP’s total population is 20.5 per cent according to the 2011 census.   

The programme has not come out all of a sudden as even a cursory look at the details of the Dalit outreach reveals that much thought and detailed planning has gone behind its launch. The Congress, whose vote share in UP had shrunk to an abysmally low of 2.3 per cent in the 2022 assembly elections, has been struggling to find an appropriate strategy to stand on its own by establishing rapport with people in general and other backward castes along with Dalits in particular.    

After lot of internal debate and deliberations, the Congress top leadership has decided to accept caste as the hard reality of country’s politics. Caste, which was once an anathema to the country’s oldest party, has become today one of its main plank. Both Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi have promised that the Congress will go for caste census if it comes to power.

The Congress government in Rajasthan has already announced that it will hold caste census. In Karnatka, where a caste census had been held in 2015, has decided to release the data.                  

The Congress decision to intensify its caste outreach after the Bihar survey data, has apparently rattled the BJP and the RSS leadership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead to attack the opposition alliance INDIA in general and the country’s oldest party in particular on the issue.  

While the BSP supremo Mayawati has been squirming at the Congress audacity to adopt Kanshiram, she has refrained from criticizing the Congress fearing that her followers may take it otherwise since the programme consists mainly of spreading his ideology.       

Congress leaders, preparing for the launch of the programme from Barabanki, stated that Kanshiram is “a Dalit icon of the nation” and cannot be restricted to one political party.

The programme includes a “Dalit Adhikar Patra” form, which will be distributed to an estimated two lakh Scheduled Caste members, asking them to list their top five demands; identifying and specifically reaching out to 1 lakh “influential” Dalits in every Assembly segment; holding 10 “night chaupals” in these areas with SC communities to discuss their issues; organising 18 “divisional padyatras”; and forming 80 core groups in each Lok Sabha seat – all with the purpose of propagating Kanshiram’s beliefs.

The Dalit Gaurav Samvad will conclude on November 26, celebrated as Constitution Day, with a big convention on the rights of Dalits with a special focus on Baba Sahib Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

Incidentally, this celebration of Kanshiram comes at a time when BSP chief Mayawati has declared equidistance from the INDIA coalition and the NDA for the coming polls. The anti-BJP parties, however, continue to hope that she will eventually come to their side.

Earlier this year, during the campaign for the Karnataka Assembly elections, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had come out with the phrase “Jitni aabadi, utna haq”, quite close to the famous slogan given by Kanshiram to rally the Dalits – “Jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari”.

Ahead of the launch, the Congress held a meeting of its senior state Dalit leaders last week, where details of the programme were shared.  

“Kanshiram was the leader of a very big Bahujan movement. He is an icon bigger than any one particular party. Our leader Rahul Gandhi has often talked about his ideology… We will discuss Kanshiram’s ideology, the issues of Dalits and their rights”, the Congress said.

Party leaders said among “influential Dalits” they are hoping to reach out to doctors, engineers, gram pradhans, professionals, intellectuals and teachers, to get an idea of the issues affecting the community. The core groups formed on the basis of these interactions would guide the Congress candidates in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

While Dalits were once a core vote bank of the Congress, along with Brahmins – thus giving the party a reach across two ends of the caste spectrum – the SC vote particularly in Uttar Pradesh slipped out of its hands with the rise of the BSP in 80s.

Now that former state chief minister and BSP chief Mayawati has been steadily losing her grip on Dalit particularly after Income Tax raided her principal secretary Netram in March 2019. The IT had conducted raids at 12 locations in Kolkata, New Delhi and Lucknow in connection with misappropriation of funds. Since then, Mayawati has been maintaining a low profile desisting any attack on the BJP or Prime Minister Modi.    

In the process, the BSP that was once the preeminent party of the Dalits in the state, the BJP has managed to make a dent within the community, amidst the rise of Narendra Modi and the collapse of the BSP under Mayawati.

Earlier this year, the Samajwadi Party, whose key Yadav vote bank is considered a rival of the Dalits in the state, marked Kanshiram’s birth anniversary on March 15 at the party headquarters with party chief and former state chief minister Akhilesh Yadav unveiling a stature of the BSP founder in Rae Bareli.    

In this background, the Congress too is making a determined effort to woo Dalits back into its fold. Whether they come back or not is a billion-dollar question but making an honest attempt is every party’s right.

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