It is for sure that the 2027 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are going to be quite interesting. The sea of humanity seen at today’s Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, Mayawati’s rally in Lucknow, amply reflects the emotional attachment of the deprived sections with Behenji, as she is popularly known among her supporters.
The BSP’s “mega rally” to mark Kanshi Ram death anniversary will now certainly change the course of politics in the most populous Hindi heartland states of the country.
While the turnout at the rally also reflects the impending threat to Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA (Pichda Dalit Adivasi) front, it has also come as a reply to those who had written her off from the political landscape of the country.
The outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh came as a big setback for the BJP. While the Saffron Party’s vote bank was intact, it was the Mayawati factor that went against the party, plummeting its seat count in Uttar Pradesh from 62 in 2019 Lok Sabha polls to 33 in 2024 general elections. The majority of Mayawati’s Dalit vote bank shifted to the Samajwadi Party in several constituencies. The most delighted person then was Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. He saw a ray of hope for 2027 in Uttar Pradesh after the encouraging 2024 Lok Sabha results.
Mayawati on other hand, looked virtually fading away, and some poll pundits even predicted her retirement from active politics. But the queen of Dalit politics in the country, Behan Mayawati, seems to have bounced back with almost all roads leading to the Kanshi Ram memorial rally venue virtually jampacked by the swelling crowds.
Interestingly, it was after many years that such enthusiasm was seen among the foot soldiers of BSP. Last time Mayawati addressed such a rally was on October 9, 2021, ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly polls.
The steady decline of BSP was not all expected. But the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh saw BSP’s vote percentage getting to a dismal 12.8 per cent. The party that had 206 MLAs in the 403-member House in 2007 currently has just one legislator – Uma Shankar Singh from Ballia – in the UP assembly. In the 2024 Lok Sabha, BSP even failed to open its account.
But Maywati today was a former self. She called upon her supporters to ensure BSP a resounding success in the coming UP assembly elections. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was quick to make a sarcastic tweet where he clandestinely tried to portray the BSP leader as having connivance with the feudals.
But worries in the minds of Akhilesh Yadav are quite obvious. His so-called politics of social justice cannot stand in front of a tall Dalit leader like Mayawati. The history is testimony to the fact that Akhilesh Yadav and family have always been at loggerheads with Mayawati, with the 1995 Lucknow guest house incident still fresh in Dalits memory.
