Staging signs of resurgence

Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is all set for a massive comeback in Uttar Pradesh as it emerges victorious in the zila Panchayat polls in the state.

Less than a year ahead of the campaign for Assembly elections, the final poll results declared for the 3112 seats in district Panchayats and 77, 576 seats in block Panchayats in UP shows BSP’s return in the state despite the debacle the party faced in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The results signal a new political scenario in UP where BJP and SP, the main political players suffered a setback. BSP has so far secured 615 seats. Mayawati’s party was defeated by Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and BJP in the Assembly polls and Lok Sabha elections respectively. Mayawati’s governance was a perfect epitome of extravagance, misuse of power and corruption. While BSP was uprooted by the Modi wave that swept across the nation during the last Lok Sabha polls, the Dalits and backward classes, the backing forces behind the party, were deluded by Amit Shah’s meaningless slogans. However, if the Mayawati and her party had focused mainly on resolving the public issues, the outcome would have been different. If the party is now showing signs of resurgence, there is only one reason behind it. The people have been highly disappointed by the four-year rule of Akhilesh Yadav’s ASP and more let down by the Modi’s Hindutwa government that pledged to transform India into a world power through progress and development declarations. The Modi government so far hasn’t been able to moot any developmental schemes that positively influence the lives of the people but rather is leading them to extremely immature issues that shame the nation in front of the world. Superstitions as old as 5000 years were polished and presented. Encouraging violence against freedom of expression and brutal intrusions even over the food consumed by the people annoyed even its own allies. Communal discords have become commonplace. The outcome of the polls to the self governing bodies reflects the strong opposition towards such moves.

BJP was able to secure only 8 out of the 48 seats in Varanasi, which is Modi‘s constituency and 4 out of 28 seats in Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s Lucknow constituency. While the party won only 7 out of 57 seats in Deoria, Union Minister Kalraj Misra’s constituency, it failed to secure any seat in Sultanpur, Varun Gandhi’s constituency. BSP emerged victorious in Singhpur adopted by Murli Manohar Joshi. BJP could gain only 7 out of 52 district Panchayat seats in Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath’s constituency. That the party leader O P Mathur would be visiting Lucknow to conduct a review indicates the gravity of the ruling party’s failure in the polls. Given that the party was able to stage a poor performance even in the constituencies of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, a comeback, as far as the Congress is concerned, is least expected. The people, amidst these circumstances, have once again shown expectations in Mayawati and her party. It might also be due to their helplessness. When there are no suitable alternatives before them, people are compelled to experiment by choosing the party that is comparatively better. The fact that people show hopes in secular parties even despite all the attempts to communally polarize the nation, signals positive hope of a democratic India in future.