BSP chief Mayawati plans to counter fringe Dalit groups to check division of votes | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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BSP chief Mayawati plans to counter fringe Dalit groups to check division of votes

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | By
Sep 19, 2018 10:50 AM IST

Party leaders and political observers say a host of fringe Dalit organisations had possibly become a new worry for Mayawati who was trying to regain her support base in the state before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Keen to check a division of Dalit votes, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has started gearing up her party cadre to counter fringe Dalit outfits, who are wooing the community in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, party leaders and political observers have said.

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati at a press conference in Lucknow.(PTI File)
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati at a press conference in Lucknow.(PTI File)

Besides the Bhim Army led by Chandrashekhar aka Ravan, a host of organisations had possibly become a new worry for Mayawati who was trying to regain her support base in the state before the polls, they added.

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These organisations include the Dalit Yuva Dal, the Bahujan Azad Party, the Rashtriya Bahujan Morcha, the Mission Suraksha Parishad, the Bahujan Samajik Parivartan Manch, the Dalit Yuva Dal, the Dalit Federation, the Dalit Caravan, the Ambedkar Army, the Dalit Revolution and the Dalit Rising.

A senior BSP leader, who did not wish to be named, said, “Behanji (Mayawati) has directed the office bearers of the zonal and district committees to counter the move of the fringe Dalit outfits. The office bearers have been directed to alert the party supporters in the cadre camps and ‘bhai-chara’ committee meetings about the designs of the fringe groups.”

Some of the fringe organisations are led by rebel BSP leaders Daddu Prasad, Pramod Kureel, Ganga Ram Ambedkar and KK Gautam. The rebels are mobilising the Dalits in the areas considered their stronghold. Daddu Prasad has invited BAMCEF leaders to a conference in Agra on September 30. BAMCEF (The All India Backward (SC, ST, and OBC) and Minority Communities Employees Federation) was founded by Mayawati’s political mentor Kanshi Ram in 1978.

The BSP chief is holding meetings with the senior party leaders at her new residence at 9 Mall Avenue in Lucknow to discuss the strategy for the Lok Sabha election. Political observer RK Gautam said Mayawati was reorganising the party by abolishing posts of national coordinators.

She removed her brother Anand from the post of the party’s national vice president recently. She had appointed young Dalit leaders as office bearers in the district committees to send a message to the youths, he said.

Her aim is to tell Dalits to remain with the BSP for recapturing political power and not fall into the trap of her political rivals, Gautam said. Snubbing Bhim Army chief for referring to her as bua (aunt), she made it clear at a press conference on Sunday that she had no relation with him.

She said rather than serving the cause of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the fringe organisations were more interested in serving their leaders’ interest. They projected themselves as the champion of Dalits to create confusion in community, she said.

If the leaders of these organisations were really interested in Dalit empowerment, rather than launching a separate outfit, they should work under the banner of the BSP to take forward the movement launched by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, Mayawati said.

Describing herself at the tallest Dalit leader, she said she had devoted her life to the uplift of the community, which considered her its role model.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Rajesh Kumar Singh is Assistant Editor, Hindustan Times at the political bureau in Lucknow. Along with covering politics, he covers government departments. He also travels to write human interest and investigative stories.

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