The BSP turns a Full Circle?
Is the BSP turning full circle by trying to woo the Brahmins in the UP and shifting its objective from 'bahujan samaj' to 'sarvjan samaj'?
The rise of the BSP in the last two decades and its achievements cannot be berated- the resurrection of B.R Ambedkar, the installation of a Dalit woman as the chief minister of the largest state in the country, the dislodging of the Congress upper caste + Dalit combine are historic events in independent India.
At the same time, the BSP has also demonstrated the pitfalls and the limitations of its ideological premises as well as that of personality cult politics. Its collaboration with the BJP was its lowest ebb, if a term like that can be used in the context of UP politics.
However, even if the current shift to incorporate the Brahmins into its fold sounds revisionist given the BSP's past rhetoric, the net result would still be, as AK Verma concludes, an overall strenghthening of the Dalit voice in UP politics.
The rise of the BSP in the last two decades and its achievements cannot be berated- the resurrection of B.R Ambedkar, the installation of a Dalit woman as the chief minister of the largest state in the country, the dislodging of the Congress upper caste + Dalit combine are historic events in independent India.
At the same time, the BSP has also demonstrated the pitfalls and the limitations of its ideological premises as well as that of personality cult politics. Its collaboration with the BJP was its lowest ebb, if a term like that can be used in the context of UP politics.
However, even if the current shift to incorporate the Brahmins into its fold sounds revisionist given the BSP's past rhetoric, the net result would still be, as AK Verma concludes, an overall strenghthening of the Dalit voice in UP politics.
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