People's Democracy

UTTAR PRADESH: A Sordid Chapter Ends, BJP Further Exposed

THE Mayawati government has collapsed after being in office for 16 months. This spells the end of the opportunist alliance between the BJP and BSP which was forged for the third time after the last assembly elections held in February 2002.

There is nothing surprising about this short-lived arrangement. Inherent in this alliance were contradictions which both the parties could not resolve. The BJP leadership had accepted the tough conditions put forth by Mayawati last year as they were keen to get the support of the 13 BSP MPs  in Lok Sabha and their support for the presidential elections too. With the formation of the Mayawati government in which the BJP was a junior partner, the problems began immediately. While the Dalit base of the BSP was jubilant at their leader becoming the chief minister again, the BJP’s rank and file were sullen and resentful. The upper caste base of the BJP was particularly unhappy. Mayawati utilised her office to single-mindedly push ahead an agenda which could consolidate her mass base among the Dalits. This was bound to come into conflict with the BJP’s interests.

What unfolded was an unsavory spectacle of both partners trying to out-manoeuvre each other and impress upon their own constituencies that they were zealously guarding their interests. The net result was the steady loss of the BJP’s support base.

Within a few months, a rebellion by some BJP MLAs, primarily belonging to the Rajput caste, took place and endangered the government. It was somehow overcome with the help of the governor, with the speaker lending a partisan hand. For the past one year, the Mayawati government’s majority in the legislative assembly was suspect. In the last assembly session, the no-confidence motion was not discussed and voted out by manipulation.

Mayawati set new standards in cynical opportunism. She refused to condemn the Gujarat pogroms under the Modi government and went to Gujarat to campaign for the BJP in the assembly elections. She even suspended operation of provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities on Scheduled Castes Act, to avoid antagonising the upper caste base of the BJP. At the same time, she resorted to massive misuse of the state machinery to further her own ends.

All through this period, the state of Uttar Pradesh and the people suffered. Last year witnessed a severe drought which badly affected farmers who got no succour. The sugarcane farmers were not paid their dues. With the closure of a number of industries, there was a heavy loss of jobs in the organised sector. The law and order situation deteriorated, with serious crimes sharply increasing. The unscrupulous alliance between the BJP and the BSP heightened caste tensions. The bureaucracy was subverted and corrupted with the open sale of transfers and postings.

The BJP leadership and the Vajpayee government kept the charade of the alliance going with the sole aim of benefiting electorally in the next Lok Sabha elections. The calculation was that the BSP’s solid Dalit vote bank would help the BJP tide over its eroding base and win sufficient seats to prop up the government at the centre. The collapse of the BJP-BSP alliance amidst mutual recriminations is a serious setback for the BJP. Not only will there be no accretion to its electoral strength by the votes provided by the BSP; its own mass base has got further eroded. In the 2002 assembly elections the BJP had come third after the SP and the BSP. Now it has to face the grim prospect of fighting alone, with its credibility seriously dented among its traditional supporters.

After last year’s assembly elections, the governor had refused to call the leader of the Samajwadi Party to form the government, despite it being the largest party in the assembly. The assembly was kept in suspended animation for two months to enable the BJP to strike a bargain with the BSP. Now again the governor has to decide. Mulayam Singh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party, has now staked the claim to form the government. He has already got the support of the RLD, RKP, Congress and CPI(M). With no other party staking its claim, the governor should have asked the Samajwadi Party leader to form a government and to prove his majority in the assembly within a short period of time. Instead of doing so, the governor has asked Mulayam Singh to submit within 24 hours proof that he commands a majority in the house. Being a hardcore RSS man, the governor, Vishnu Kant Shastri, was obviously interested to impose President’s rule in the state which is what the BJP wanted. However, the splitting away of a group of BSP MLAs who have declared support for Mulayam Singh has foiled the game plan of the BJP leadership.

This sordid chapter, which has ended in UP, will further expose the BJP’s degenerate politics.