“Tu hai ki nahi?” A well-liked tune from a Bollywood film sparkles in my thoughts every time I believe of Mayawati—a stalwart Dalit chief who gave hope to hundreds of thousands of downtrodden individuals in India, however now appears disinterested and disenchanted with electoral politics, for no seen motive. This election, for occasion, she ended her marketing campaign per week earlier than the ultimate part. This included the cancellation of scheduled rallies and packages. Some occasion members gave an unsettling rationalization that “the campaign has been done wherever the party was hopeful of winning elections.”
But why has this occurred?
Data from previous meeting elections exhibits that Mayawati’s loyal vote financial institution in her dwelling state of Uttar Pradesh hasn’t shrunk a lot. Her loyal vote financial institution remains to be there and fairly intact (seek advice from the graphic under).
The BSP supremo, now in a non-valiant mode, was as soon as a frontrunner who reacted to every and each political growth. Her reactions, not like her counterparts, have been extra motion than phrases.
However, it is fairly evident now that she is working the occasion on auto-pilot mode.
But is that this inactivity linked with age and well being? Or are there are causes past?
The BSP supremo just lately put in her nephew, Akash Anand, as her successor, solely to sack him per week later. Anand, some stated, gave hope to the occasion with preliminary photo-ops and initiatives (that by no means took off). Mayawati, per week later, eliminated him, stating that he wants to realize extra “maturity”—delivering a shocker to the political circles. Did Mayawati do that beneath some strain from the BJP? Congress and Samajwadi Party have stated so.
While Mayawati eliminated Akash, she gave the powers again to Anand Kumar, the former’s father.
The BJP leaders, in response, stated that this was BSP’s inside matter.
No Campaign, No Agenda
BSP slogans like “Tilak, Trishul aur Talwaar… and Hathi Nahi Ganesh, Brahma Vishnu Mahesh hain,” used to create ripples in the electoral scenes for many years, ever since the occasion was based by Kanshi Ram.
For the previous three elections, there hasn’t been a well-liked slogan. People, even in Mayawati’s bastions of Ghaziabad and Noida, haven’t seen native models campaigning on a big scale. In some pockets, many do not even know the identify of the candidates this time.
No Attempts to Pick Up Modern-Day Campaigning
Surprisingly, the BSP is the solely ‘large occasion’ in the fray with none particular social media technique in place. The occasion, which will get round 20 % of votes in a state like Uttar Pradesh, solely has 84,000 Twitter followers and 1 lakh on Facebook.
Its final Twitter put up got here on May 2, a month in the past, whereas the elections have been nonetheless on. The final put up on Facebook was on May 20. Both handles should not even verified.
The occasion has negligible or zero presence on platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp.
No Advertisement Campaign on TV
Unlike previous years, the BSP was nowhere to be seen on tv adverts, and the occasion did not pay for ads in massive newspapers.
Many could argue that this isn’t the first time {that a} occasion is diminishing. There have been many examples of nationwide and even state-level events being decimated to some seats.
But the case just isn’t so easy with BSP. The BSP’s loyal vote financial institution, many say, will nonetheless vote for BSP. The seat share of the occasion has diminished, however the vote share is undamaged. This signifies that Dalits nonetheless come out to punch the Elephant on the EVMs, but, the seats should not gained as the occasion is not engaged on the much-required caste arithmetic in any respect.
The info and figures clearly recommend—BSP just isn’t useless. However, its management’s intent to win elections is definitely nowhere to be seen.
