Mayawati's UP rise may reflect upon Maharashtra

Mayawati's rise in Uttar Pradesh is sure to influence Dalit politics all over India including Maharashtra, the state that gave India Babasaheb Ambedkar and his living legacy in the form of the Republican Party movement.

Mayawati is expected to be given a grand felicitation in Mumbai next Sunday (May 27), the day that will also mark the 50th anniversary of Ambedkar embracing Buddhism.

Celebrations in the slums of Mumbai and Dalit-dominated constituencies all over Maharashtra, immediately after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was declared the clear winner in the UP elections earlier this month, indicated the depth and intensity of feeling among the community. The Sunday grand function could be Mayawati's big moment "" to strike and consolidate the fractured 10 to 11 per cent Dalit vote that is scattered over the state.

In the 2004 Assembly elections, the BSP set up 200 candidates for a 288-member assembly. They did not get a single MLA but managed 4 per cent of the vote share. The party's performance in the last Nagpur municipal elections proved that it could pull votes. But this time, because Mayawati was busy with the Uttar Pradesh elections, she could not campaign much. All these are signs that if she puts her mind to it, the BSP could be turned into a viable vehicle for the divided Dalit vote

Over the last three decades, the Republican Party of India (RPI), the party founded by Dr Ambedkar, has splintered in 20 odd factions. Out of this, four factions "" led by Prakash Ambedkar, Athavale, Jogendra Kavade and Namdeo Dhasal have some credible presence in the state.

Barring Prakash Ambedkar, all the other leaders have chosen to be junior partners of Congress, NCP or BJP-Shiv Sena. But little solid gain has accrued to the community through these alliances although the lkeaders have done well for themselves through them. This has led to frustration among Dalit youth, which comes out through incidents like the Khairlangi Dalit killings.

"Mayawati's victory has put a question mark on legitimacy and hegemony of various RPI leaders on Dalit votes in the state," said Suhas Palshikar, professor of political science from Pune University.

Unlike Uttar Pradesh, in Maharashtra, upper castes like Brahmins or Vaishyas don't constitute significant numbers. Dalits have no direct conflict with them though an alliance can influence the political outcome in limited areas. The dominant upper caste in Maharashtra is the Maratha with whom relationship of Dalit community has historically been fractious.

So in order to replicate her UP experiment in Maharashtra, Mayawati has to build a cautious alliance with the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), whose relationship with Maratha community is also tenuous and strained, Palshikar says.

"When we talk about the Dalit movement in Maharashtra, we often only mean the political or social struggle of erstwhile Mahar or Neobuddhist community. And biggest failure of republican leadership has been its inability to bring the Matang and Charmkar communities under Republican banner. We find these communities either in the Congress or BJP-Shiv Sena camp. And if Mayawati manages to bring these communities together with Neo Buddhists, it will not only affect the fortunes of present Republican leadership but also could upset the apple-cart of the Congress and BJP-Sena, " he said.

The state president of BSP, Vilas Garud reflects this feeling: "We will end the monopoly of leaders like Athavale and Ambedkar over Dalit votes in Maharashtra. Behenji (as Mayawati is known) has shown how to realise Dr Ambedkar's wish of seeing Dalits becoming the ruling class".

Prakash Ambedkar however questions this: "We may not have political power but the Dalit movement in Maharashtra has been able to bring about much more social change than Mayawati or BSP have been able to do. In Maharashtra there is reservation for Dalits, not just in government but also in private medical and engineering colleges. Their fees are paid by state government. In Mayawati's UP, Dalit student don't even get scholarships, he claimed.

Dismissing the idea that her victory in UP may lead to BSP spreading its base in Maharashtra, Ambedkar said, "she has not been able to spread her party in neighboring states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. So there is no question of whether she will be able to do it in Maharashtra. But she will remain important face of Ambedkar movement in UP," he said.