Dalits, backwards slip from Maya matrix
Bahujan Samaj Party’s founder Kanshi Ram successfully cobbled his famous ‘pachasi banam pandrah’ formula to consolidate the 85%-- dalits, backward castes and Muslims— against 15% upper caste in Bundelkhand in the 90s.
In 2017, the BJP rendered this formula obsolete in Bundelkhand, winning all the 19 seats in seven districts. This is a feat no party has ever managed to pull off in the region.
In the past, the BSP has done consistently well in Bundelkhand, a region with a high concentration of dalits and backwards. But over the years the leaders whom Kanshiram groomed left the BSP, particulary those from backward castes, like Kurmi, Nishad and Kushwaha. Dalit leaders Daddu Prasad, Gayadeen Anuragi, backward caste leaders Babu Singh Kushwaha, Shiv Charan Prajapati, RK Singh Patel and Vishambhar Nishad were not with the BSP in 2017.
They were the BJP’s gain and the BSP struggled to get support from its loyal base. Using the backward face of Uma Bharti in the region in 2012, the BJP presented itself as an alternative among dalit and backward castes bases. For the first time, the Kushwahas and Patels were vocal about their support to the BJP. “Backwards were slipping big time from BSP to BJP. But the migration of dalits in Bundelkhand has been the real jolt. Mayawati’s impregnable loyal base has cracked for the first time,” said Bhanu Sahay, a political analyst from Jhansi.
The backwards castes maintained they had seen both SP and BSP five years each, now they wanted to give the BJP a chance.
“I spoke to dalits. Dalit sub castes were categorical that the note ban hadn’t hurt them but made them equal to the rich,”said Durgesh Yadav, a senior lawyer from Banda. Ashish Sagar, who works on the ground, said “The BSP was banking on the goodwill of the candidates than the vote banks; the social engineering didn’t work at all.”