In its efforts to win back Brahmins, the Bahujan Samaj Party is now finding it difficult to keep the Thakurs in good humour.
The action initiated by the BSP against some of its Thakur leaders has further worsened the party’s relationship with the Thakur community while the active participation of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and BJP leader Rajnath Singh in UP politics is making Thakurs veer towards these two parties.
The BSP, interestingly, has never shared a comfortable equation with the Thakur and the Thakur MLAs have been largely responsible for the three major splits that the BSP suffered since 1995. In 2002, the Mayawati government unleashed atrocities on Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh which further consolidated the community against the BSP. “The BSP has never been Thakur-friendly and gives tickets to Thakurs only to ensure its victory in Thakur dominated pockets. Thakurs have never been a part of Mayawati’s trusted inner circles and are looked upon with suspicion. The BSP adopts the use and throw policy when it comes to Thakurs,” says a former BSP MLA belonging to the Thakur community.
To prove his point, the former MLA says, “The BSP weaned away leaders like Dhananjay Singh, Sonu Singh and Ashok Chandel from the SP and then conveniently dumped them.”
Dhananjay Singh, MP, was suspended from the BSP and then later reinstated, his father Rajdev Singh has been denied ticket from Jaunpur, Sonu Singh in Sultanpur has suffered the same fate, Badshah Singh has been dropped from the ministry and now Ashok Chandel has been shown the door too.
Jitendra Singh Babloo, once a highly trusted leader in the BSP, was also denied ticket and when he defected to the Peace Party, he was not only disqualified from the Assembly but also dumped in jail in connection with an old case.
Thakurs, however, continue to play an important role in UP politics even though they constitute only 8 per cent of the population. Thakurs roughly own around 48 per cent of farmland and also wield enormous muscle and money power that can tilt the electoral balance.
Realising this, the BSP is now making a renewed effort to win back at least a part of the Thakur vote base. The party has already deployed ministers like Thakur Jaiveer Singh, Fateh Bahadur Singh and Vinod Singh to woo Thakurs and at a rally for Muslims, Thakurs and Vaishya in the state capital on December 18, the chief minister will also underline her party’s strength to the Thakurs and make an attempt to build bridges with the community.