The changing of names of districts by the Akhilesh Yadav government on Monday, has spurred the Bahujan Samaj Party into action.
Within hours of the state government’s decision, the BSP has decided to turn it into a major political issue that will bring caste benefits for the party.
According to BSP sources, Ms Mayawati is determined to turn this into a major issue and consolidate her party’s base among dalits.
To begin with, all BSP leaders in the eight districts that have been renamed have been directed to launch a mass contact movement and apprise the community about the “insult” to dalit icons.
In the remaining districts too, BSP leaders will launch a campaign through posters, meetings and rallies to mobilise the dalits on the issue.
A massive rally to be addressed by Ms Mayawati on the issue in October is also being planned.
“The SP government has changed names of districts that were named after dalit icons — be it Kanshi Ram Nagar, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Mahamaya Nagar, Chhatrapati Shahuji Nagar or Bhim Nagar — and this clearly shows the anti-dalit mentality of the Samajwadis. We will now launch a campaign to create awareness among dalits on this issue and tell them how their icons are being insulted,” said a former BSP minister.
He further said, “We had renamed Kanpur Dehat as Ramabai Nagar after Dr Ambedkar’s wife. The name Kanpur Dehat, as such, has no historical, cultural or mythological significance but the SP government has done away with Ramabai Nagar simply because she represented the dalits. Similar is the case with other districts.”
Though the Samajwadi government has bowed to popular sentiment in doing away with the new names of districts, which, in any case, had not yet caught on with the people, there is little doubt that this could help the BSP in strengthening its base in casteist politics in Uttar Pradesh.