In the midst of the election din, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) turned 25 last week. From its parentage in the Backward And Minority Castes Employees Federation (BAMCEF), a non-political organisation of Dalit government employees that was set up in 1973, it has been a long and fruitful journey for the BSP to its position of dominance today in Uttar Pradesh, and (even more important) to changing the politics of northern India. The party has increased its vote share in every election that it has fought — and not just by putting up more candidates. The BSP is now ready to influence and perhaps even shape coalition politics at the national level.
The growth and evolution of the party are quite obviously the product of its two most important leaders to date. Kanshiram, the founder, built the edifice on which the party and its politics rest: the backbreaking work that he did, of identifying lieutenants, figuring out how best to articulate issues, staying in the game despite repeated electoral setbacks, and building the organisation into a viable force, has been frequently under-estimated. Mayawati has in recent years provided the optics for some powerful imagery, as the chief minister of India’s largest and arguably most caste-conscious state. Displaying an astute political brain, she has expanded the party’s base, after shifting its plank from Bahujan to sarva jan in order to broaden its appeal.
While it is relatively easy to launch a party, achieving electoral success is a far greater challenge. Previous experiments in Dalit representation, like the Republican Party of India (which lies in a shambles after it split repeatedly) and the Dalit Panthers (which is politically insignificant) show how very hard it can be to turn a nascent movement into a serious political force. Not only has the BSP managed to do this, it has widened its caste appeal to include the poor among caste Hindus and Muslims. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Congress had adopted the strategy of combining Brahmins and Dalits, two mutually non-threatening caste groups. But it was one thing for the Congress to do this, another for a party that has as its organising principle the need for Dalits to have a voice.
But a social coalition has to be negotiated; it cannot be an artificial construct, or imposed from above. If Brahmins are going to get plum organisational posts within the BSP and in ministerial slots, at the cost of Dalits, the latter will ask what the upper castes will do for them. It is a shaming reality that in states like Tamil Nadu, for instance, the double-glass system is still very much in use. Dalits are still not allowed to enter most Brahmin kitchens in UP and Bihar. The Dalit struggle for dignity and self-respect was a fight against brahminical forces and the oppressiveness of the caste system. So, in Uttar Pradesh which provides the heart of the BSP’s support base, the attacks on Dalits may have come down, but the social architecture of the lower bureaucracy is still hostile.
As for the BSP’s internal structure, it remains depressingly feudal and personality-driven. Political parties have to become larger than the individuals who lead them. Also, for a Dalit-based party to gain broader appeal, it has to stand for something more than Dalit self-respect and assertion, and it cannot afford to become a by-word for misgovernance. Were that to happen, the promise of the BSP will eventually be belied.