Mayawati-helmed BSP seems to be staring at extinction as it gets relegated to just one seat in UP
What has happened to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), of late? With the worst election results since inception, the Mayawati-helmed party seems to be staring at extinction from the political scenario of Uttar Pradesh. That brings up a question as to whether the BSP has any relevance anymore in the political arena of the state.
A cursory look at what had happened in UP when the Assembly poll process was on in the state would make it clear that the Bahujan Samaj Party was nowhere in the picture. Though party leaders had exuded confidence that party leaders and workers have been engaged in election campaign at the ground level, nothing showed up when the results were out.
It was only the winning Bharatiya Janata Party and Samajwadi Party that hogged some media space at the end of it all. The Bahujan Samaj Party was at the receiving end of all the drubbing that happened. And that too, in the worst possible way!
BSP was not visible anywhere in UP during the polls
The elections in UP was more of a bipolar nature with the BJP and SP fighting it out. Bahujan Samaj Party had no role to play in the scenario that emerged. With allegations rampant that BSP has been functioning as the B-team of the BJP, the scenario proved to be even dismal for the party.
This having happened to a party that once used to be a front-runner in the Dalit politics horizon of UP and elsewhere in India, is a shame. All that it is now left with is its past glory. The politics of the modern day is far away from what BSP knows or wants to learn.
Devoid of any hope in new age politics
Continuing to stay firm on the terrain of caste politics, BSP hasn’t ventured into the new age to reinvent itself. And, therein lies its path towards extinction.
With just a single seat to boast about, and a vote share of 12.9 percent, the Bahujan Samaj Party is fast moving away from the political horizon it once dreamt of conquering. Caste matters don’t stand by it anymore as has been seen during the recent Assembly polls. If Mayawati has any hope left, she would have to work hard for that. That, in the current scenario, looks impossible.
