Addressing a mega rally at the Kanshi Ram memorial in Lucknow Thursday, BSP president Mayawati asserted that her party would fight the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on its own steam, ruling out any alliances. She urged the BSP’s leaders and workers to step up efforts to bring the party to power and make her the Chief Minister for the fifth time.
Mayawati held the rally after four years on the occasion of the 19th death anniversary of party founder Kanshi Ram. Here are seven takeaways from her speech:
Attack on SP
The BSP supremo kept her guns trained on the principal Opposition in UP, Samajwadi Party (SP), and its president Akhilesh Yadav for their alleged “double standards”, asking her supporters to be cautious of such “two-faced” leaders.
Mayawati attacked Akhilesh for his bid to reach out to Dalits and “co-opt” its icons, alleging that during his government’s tenure he had ignored the “PDA” (Pichhda, Dalits and Alpsankhyak), his current plank, and the commemoration of the birth and death anniversaries of Kanshi Ram.
She also accused Akhilesh of having allegedly changed, during his chief ministerial stint, the names of certain districts and institutions named after Kanshi Ram. “The SP government had not used funds of memorials on their upkeep but now when they are out of power, they are reportedly planning a seminar on Kanshi Ram,” she said.
Soft on BJP
Mayawati praised the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state for ensuring upkeep of the Kanshi Ram memorial. “I am grateful to the current state government because they did not hold back the collection of funds from sale of tickets of memorials, built during my regime, for their upkeep,” she said.
The BSP chief said she had written to CM Adityanath in this regard who, she added, kept his promise. “Isliye humari party unki abhari hai (So, the BSP is grateful to CM Adityanath).”
In contrast, she said, “The SP regime had held back the funds meant for these memorials, which had led to their deterioration.”
At the same time, Mayawati blamed the BJP-led Centre for “falsely framing” her and her family members in some corruption cases through the CBI and Income Tax (I-T) department to “malign” them. She however said that the Congress regime had done the same thing earlier.
She said her government had worked for the deprived sections and had not made them dependent on free ration being currently given by the central government from the “taxpayers’ money”.
She also alleged that while all the parties, including the SP, BJP and Congress, failed to provide proper reservation benefits to the suppressed sections, the “SP was a step ahead on this front”.
Caution against new Dalit faces
With her party going all out to project her as the “only successor of Kanshi Ram”, Mayawati asked her supporters to be “cautious” of new Dalit leaders and their parties, calling them “bikau (saleable)”. Warning them of a “conspiracy”, she alleged that these leaders had floated their outfits to “misuse” and “divide Dalit vote base”.
In an oblique attack on Nagina MP and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) founder Chandrashekhar Aazad, she said, “Don’t spoil your vote in favour of such selfish and saleable people by falling into the trap of your friends or relatives as this would only benefit our opponents”.
On alliances
Mayawati made it clear that the BSP would not enter into any alliances for the coming elections. “We never benefited much when we contested Assembly elections in alliances. Our votes shifted to them but their caste-based votes never benefited us,” she said.
She explained how the party could not gain much in the 1993 and 1997 UP polls when it had aligned with the SP and the Congress respectively. She also said her coalition governments with the SP and the BJP had not lasted long. She added that when the BSP had gone solo in 2007, it got 206 seats of 403 and formed its own majority government. “This is why we have decided to contest alone.”
Invoking 2007 mandate
Highlighting the BSP’s victory in the 2007 UP polls, Mayawati told the party leaders and workers that it is critical to gain political power to address all the concerns of the Dalit community.
Citing Ambedkar on the need to secure “satta ki chabi (key of power)”, Mayawati said that “political power” is a “master key” through which the deprived sections could resolve all their problems. She said that while her government during 2007-12 worked for Dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities and other vulnerable communities, her rivals “did not like it and worked to weaken the BSP”.
Projecting Akash Anand
During her speech, Mayawati urged the BSP members to rally round party coordinator and her nephew Akash Anand in the same way they supported her. “They way you have stood in my support against all odds when Kanshi Ram was alive and after his death, I want that all the party members should similarly stand firmly with Akash Anand,” she said.
She introduced senior BSP leader S C Mishra, the party’s Brahmin face, and his son Kapil Mishra on the dais. She also introduced some other key members of her team including the lone party MLA Uma Shankar Singh and state party president Vishwanath Pal, an OBC leader.
Targeting Congress
Criticising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, without mentioning his name, for displaying a copy of the Constitution in his hand at his public meetings, Mayawati said: “During the Emergency, then Congress government had rendered Baba Saheb (Ambedkar)’s Constitution meaningless. But today, holding the same Constitution in hand, they are doing different kinds of drama.”
She also said that the Congress had “deprived” Ambedkar from being elected to Parliament, failed to confer Bharat Ratna on him, and did not declare state mourning on Kanshi Ram’s demise.