Kanshi Rams objective has been simple: to get Dalit hands on the levers of power. His strategy: to consolidate Dalit votes behind his Bahujan Samaj Party and use that strength to negotiate electoral alliances and then coalitions.
It seemed like a long shot eight years ago, when he first made a ripple in national politics, but it has now given his protege, Mayawati, the chief ministership of UP. Some of his supporters say he may try to bargain a similar arrangement at the centre after the next elections.
Uttar Pradesh has turned into the chief battleground for the BSP. It is gradually consolidating the support of the Dalits in the northern and eastern parts of Madhya Pradesh too but has already welded UPs Dalits into a united phalanx of voters. By 1996, the BSP had established a hold on 21 per cent of UPs total votes, mainly from the scheduled castes and a few other backward castes.
Until 1995, other parties tried to wean Dalits over - particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party and Mulayam Singh Yadavs Samajwadi Party. Around two-and-a-half years ago, however, their leaders spoke of their frustration. Yadav turned to upper caste groups instead, first trying to rope in traders, and then the Thakurs. The BJP decided to concentrate on expanding its base among the other backward castes. Their giving up on Dalit votes has of course meant that other scheduled caste leaders, who have been used to negotiating favours from various parties by promising to get them scheduled caste votes, have lost their clout. But that is only one side of the coin. Ram argues that these parties paid lip service to Dalit welfare without ever doing anything, that whatever benefits accrued from such arrangements went to the Dalit power brokers rather than the poor Dalits. Indeed, in UPs villages, many Dalits insist that they had never before experienced pride or security of the sort they did when Mayawati was in power.