Young leadership is taking centre stage in Dalit politics around the country and certainly in Uttar Pradesh. Akash Anand, the nephew of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is one, and Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhim Army chief is another. Dalits account for 21% of the state’s population and have hundreds of subcastes; of them, the Jatavs form the largest group with 11-15% of the population in different pockets of the state. The Jatavs, a more politically conscious group, have remained loyal to BSP, and the “Dalit ki Beti”, as Mayawati once named herself.
Anand launched his campaign on April 6 from the Muslim-Dalit dominated Nagina constituency from where another upcoming Dalit leader, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad is contesting his first Lok Sabha election as the nominee of four-year-old Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) that he founded in March 2020.
Though many voters are unhappy with the BSP for diluting BR Ambedkar’s, and subsequently, Kanshi Ram’s mission — the emancipation of the oppressed classes — they are willing to credit Mayawati with their political empowerment and for eulogising Dalit icons.
What worries them is not the labelling of the BSP as the B-team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but the probable consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of the Congress-Samajwadi Party (SP) alliance, the two prominent members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) opposition bloc, as the BSP has decided to go solo in this election.
Dr Satish Prakash, a political analyst and professor based in Meerut, disputed the common belief that Jatavs, lured by the BJP’s welfare schemes and distribution of ration, deserted the BSP in the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2022 state assembly elections.
“One needs to understand the hunger of Dalits, especially the much-awakened section of Jatavs, to participate in power. In the 1970s, they refused to be guided by the owners (usually Jats) of the agriculture fields where they worked as labourers, and today too, they will not vote for the party which will give them doles but not a share in power.” The Jatavs, he said, are “emotionally attached to the Constitution.”
In an essay titled ‘Dalit Ideas, the Politics of Knowledge in North India' published in the World Humanities Report, political analyst Dr Badri Narayan described GP Madan, an advocate and author based in Allahabad as an “organic intellectual” of the Dalit community. Referring to the caste sammelans (gatherings) organised by Kanshi Ram, while the latter was struggling to expand the party in the late 1980s, Madan said that he had warned the BSP founder of further social fragmentation that would eventually jeopardise Ambedkar’s dream of creating a casteless society. “I used to tell Kanshi Ram it’s a double-edged sword. But he continued with his social movement which Mayawati changed to social engineering, and to acquire political power and empower Dalits. Her contribution is unique as she boldly ruled the state, and established memorials of Dalit icons with which the population identifies. Why would they desert her now?”
According to Madan, it doesn’t matter to the Dalits if Mayawati joins the BJP government after the elections, as Kanshi Ram often said, "Satta ke liye sahyog do or lo (take and give support for power)." So, Dalits would welcome it if she becomes the balancing power in the next government at the Centre, he said.
Mayawati's winning formula has been Jatavs caste of the candidate Muslims (which votes for the strongest party against BJP). Second, her hold on Jatav's votes is so strong that she can transfer their votes to any other candidate or party — a reason why all Opposition court the BSP.
Incidentally, the BSP’s vote percentage since 2007, when Mayawati formed an independent government in the state, has hovered between 19 to 25% in the Lok Sabha elections, though she did experiment in 2019 when the party had an electoral alliance with the SP. The BSP won 10 seats polling about 19.4% — almost the same as it did in 2014 when it contested independently and failed to win even one seat. In the 2004 and 2009 elections, the BSP polled 24.7 and 27.4% votes, respectively.
“BSP may or may not win seats, but her Jatav vote will not drift,” Prakash said.
Before the 2012 elections, angry voices in Dalit localities of smaller towns spoke out against Mayawati’s social engineering that had brought the party to power in 2007. The youth wanted their leaders to be aggressive and not amiable to the upper caste that had inflicted atrocities on them.
While they never questioned the experiments that Kanshi Ram and Mayawati did to grow their base in the state, or their tie-up with the BJP, they were angry that their “behenji” had lost the fire in the belly to combat the hegemony of the upper caste.
Thus, when Bhim Army chief, the man in the blue scarf, Chandrashekhar Azad, arose, the youth saw promise and hope in him. Politically though, they did not desert the BSP; Azad contested one assembly election in 2022 against chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the latter’s turf and lost his deposit.
Now the young electorate is closely watching 28-year-old Akash Anand, the son of Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar. An MBA from London, he was groomed by her before she declared him as her heir apparent in December 2023.
Akash had also addressed rallies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He recently tweeted his plan to spend a full month in UP propagating Mayawati’s model of governance, which he touted as being the best in the country, one that was for the welfare of all castes and communities.
Active on social media, Akash has finally come out of his aunt’s shadow. His solo show in Nagina has evoked curiosity. He was certainly more aggressive than Mayawati in attacking the BJP, SP and Congress. “Political parties have taken electoral bonds to the tune of ₹16,500 crores in the past six years. Only the BSP, which is run by its workers tan, man and dhan [physical labour, mental and emotional work and money] did not take even a single penny. BSP is not a shop that sells politics. It is a mission.”
Will he be accepted by the cadre as well as caste? Opinions differ.
While Dr Satish says the BSP is temperamentally against dynastic politics from the days of Ambedkar and has not accepted political families as successors of Kanshi Ram, (Jagjivan Ram, Ram Vilas Paswan et al), others say that people will judge him for who he is.
A senior BSP leader from Agra said on the condition of anonymity, “People may clap for him but they may quit the party as they believe ‘raja ka beta raja hoga’ is a manuvadi culture. Kanshi Ram could have handed over his legacy to his brother instead of Mayawati but he did not. The party will get divided.”
There is also this argument that while Mayawati had quit her job and dedicated her life to the mission, tech-savvy Akash is a businessman and his father is facing investigations over property deals.
Kanshi Ram handed over a robust party with a network of committed cadre and dependable Dalit officials to Mayawati. However, Akash will be taking over a weak organisation with frustrated cadres but committed core voters.
What’s more, waiting in the wings is another Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad, who initially wanted a ticket from the opposition alliance but then decided to test the waters alone. In a triangular contest, the BJP hopes to win the seat but some believe there is a tacit understanding between Akhilesh and Chandrashekar. The SP campaign, for instance, is not only dull but rarely targets Azad in Nagina.
While Chandrashekhar refused to comment on Akash Anand (he described him as his younger brother) while talking to the media in his constituency, the latter has not lauded him or his campaigns for Dalit voters.
Ask Dalit thinkers like Madan, they too feel that Mayawati should have withdrawn her candidate in his favour.
Sunita Aron is a consulting editor with the HT based in Lucknow. You can find her on X as @overto. The weekly column, Keeping up with UP tackles everything from politics to social and cultural mores in the country's most populous state. The views expressed are personal.
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