Fantasies of Mayawati
text_fields
The snapshot of current Indian politics is the image of Mayawati clutching on a 'Trishula (trident). There is less than 6 months for UP elections to take place. Other than UP, assembly elections have to be held in four states including Punjab. Now that is the way Mayawati tends to announce her demeanour, stance and approach to the elections. The target this time is to bring together as many Brahmin votes as possible. As the party is a self-proclaimed messiah of Dalits, the Dalit vote bank in large will naturally flow towards the goal. If the Brahmin votes can also join the flow, it would be a splendid win-win. She could become the chief Minister just as she did in 2007 and Trishula is the prop for this dream entry.
In UP, the Thakurs and Brahmins can't see eye to eye each other. The unleasing of this Thakur dictatorial ploy and internal conflicts started soon after Yogi Adityanath, a Thakur himself got into power. Even if BJP is trying hard to lure the Brahmin into line, it seems that the Brahmins have never flopped the hold from the scared thread that they tie and strangle in resentment. Here is the point where Mayawati nurses immense hopes. Along with them, Samajvadi party and others including the Congress have also fixed their gazes longing for the vote reservoir. There are no other stances or slogans than these gimmicks to be placed before the voters in the elections.
A loyal confidant of Mayawati, and a Brahmin Satish Chandra Mishra is trying to organize small Brahmin gatherings all around. Mayavwati made her maiden entry raising the Thrishool in one such harbinger meeting to such gatherings. The Thrishool is not a banned object, anybody can raise it. Could weave and wear the saffron and that is just what Mayawati has also done. This is a time when even the Bishop of Pala in Kerala is gripped by fantasies. Mayawati addressed the stage by raising the Trishula. "The work of Ram temple construction is not moving at a good pace. If BSP comes into power, we will speed it up. " She has even confessed to one of the mistakes when she was a Chief Minister: spending crores of rupees for placing statues in every corner. "That was a mistake and will not happen ever again".
ll the sheep have now followed the jack leaves dangled by the BJP. For the Dalits in UP may have come to feel that the BSP of Kanshi Ram is not the BSP of Mayawati. Majority of those who could never be herded by the are now with Chandrashekhar Azad and others. The elections have arrived in the midst of all this. Leave alone winning power, this is the time they need to ensure their own existence. Similar to 2007, the only way ahead is to capitalise on the Brahmin resentment. The Brahmin stance then was not to vote for either BJP or Congress. Nor did they want to give it to the Samajvadi party, and thus gifted it to the Dalit party. Thus when Dalit and Brahmin votes fell into the ballot boxes, Mayawati's star rose.
In UP, Brahmins constitute 12%. But in terms of their dominant reign, this is even 112% and that is the extent of their influence in decision making. BJP has been struggling to bring down their complaint about this influence diminishing now. On the other end, Yogi's spree is as if let loose without any such restraint. Nevertheless, for Modi and Amit Shah it is inevitable not to think of the 2024 elections. The temple construction has been moving at its pace. If works are completed by now, what if the voters get rid of BJP in 2024? Which is why for the same apprehension that it has been already conveyed that the temple will be opened in 2023 but the works will be completed only in 2025. It is here that Mayawati's comment about slow pace of temple construction has a point.
In UP, Brahmins constitute 12%. But in terms of their dominant reign, this is even 112% and that is the extent of their influence in decision making. BJP has been struggling to bring down their complaint about this influence diminishing now. On the other end, Yogi's spree is as if let loose without any such restraint. Nevertheless, for Modi and Amit Shah it is inevitable not to think of the 2024 elections. The temple construction has been moving at its pace. If works are completed by now, what if the voters get rid of BJP in 2024? Which is why for the same apprehension that it has been already conveyed that the temple will be opened in 2023 but the works will be completed only in 2025. It is here that Mayawati's comment about slow pace of temple construction has a point.
BJP is no longer afraid of Mayawati. In spite of trying various political hormones over 10 years, Mayawati's party is still getting lean. They deduce that there will be no results in Mayawati raising the Trishula and trying to lure the backward communities who were already enchanted into the dark pall of saffron and had started to raise BJP slogans. Keeping aside Yogi's follies, the master plan of the temple is sufficient for the voters. In addition to that, now Afghanistan is also on the list. It is clearly a perfecta that not only Samajvadi party and the Congress will not stand together but also they will strongly compete against each other. And thereby when this quadrangular contest starts, they see that issues like Covid, petrol, diesel and the resentment of the public resulting from these steeping burden on their backs will not be a matter of concern.
For the BJP, the real headache now is not the Trishula-wielding Mayawati but the farmers with the plough. They neither sweat nor gasp, but are pitched in their camps on the outskirts of Delhi for over nine months. Even then the Government is not ready to repeal the farm reforms. It is the same government who repealed 500 and 1000 notes overnight claiming to wipe out black money and terrorism. As in the case of that, even here there are beneficiaries. Even if heavens fall down due to farmers' strike, there is no question of letting down industrial tycoons. e But as the elections are nearing, the farmer protests are burgeoning strongly. The farmers in Punjab and UP share the same sentiments.
The BJP is ready to lose in Punjab with no chances for winning. The apprehension on the other hand is whether the farmers in Punjab would steep in and infiltrate the farmers of UP whose signs are very visible as well. The Mahapanchayat of Muzaffarnagar and the protests in Haryana are bolstering the uprising. There will be no use using tools of caste and religion as usual. Many uprisings including the anti-NRC/CAA protests were similarly dismantled. But the body language of both the farmers and the farmer protests are far beyond those. There are only farmers among them, no Hindus, Sikhs or backward people. But the BJP stands baffled having failed to find a language that can break their integrity even after one year.
The remaining one question is this: Who is more powerful? The Mayawati who argued for the rights of the Dalit community or the Mayawati who tries to win the votes of Dalits and Brahmins raising the trishula. At this hour of dismemberment, at a time when the idea and concept of India has to be embraced, this question is pertinent to every party steeped in a hallucination and suspicious of the majority people's stream of thought.
