Bogged down by internal issues, Mayawati appears uninterested in rebuilding BSP

NEW DELHI: The expulsion of heir apparent Akash Anand from BSP, after having been appointed and sacked as the party face twice in less than a year, is emblematic of the fall in the Dalit outfit's fortunes.
The party was reduced to a solitary seat out of 403 in UP assembly in 2022 elections and then failed to win any of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2024, even as its cadre and mid-rung leaders have streamed into rival SP in good numbers, boosting the strength of Akhilesh Yadav's ranks while also benefitting BJP in pockets.
That encapsulates the misery of BSP over last five years - confusion at the top and erosion at the bottom. How did the party, once imperious in its appeal and strength and the byword for Dalit assertion, reach this miserable stage is difficult to fathom. But as it came after BJP's romp in UP in 2014 LS and 2017 assembly polls, Mayawati's key decisions like snapping the alliance with SP immediately after the 2019 Lok Sabha results in which it managed to win 10 seats, triggered speculation that extraneous factors like govt pressure over her legal woes were dictating her moves. Its choice of candidates in select constituencies in successive elections, which were seen as seeking to damage the BJP's rivals, only fanned the suspicion.
As it stands today, BSP is without much of its votebase and without any legislative strength, while rivals BJP and SP both have benefitted from its fading from the scene. The 2024 LS polls have shown strong evidence that SP may emerge as a key destination for Dalit cadre, who are being wooed by BSP turncoats now leading the charge from Samajwadi benches.

To many observers, signs of "behenji" bogged down in internal issues like succession, and suspicion of successors, instead of focusing on making a deft attempt at recouping the lost base suggests a distracted leader not keen on rebuilding. This is a confirmation of the party's obituaries that emerged in the wake of the 2022 UP election disaster. Few, including close followers, are willing to give the BSP another chance at re-emergence, despite the party retaining a wistful goodwill among its core vote base that is drifting to other options.
As a labour of love of the tireless Kanshi Ram, BSP was a trailblazer, the first of the political platforms of Dalits which captured the imagination of the downtrodden and then showed enough realpolitik to become an indispensable political player. Anchored in the largest state of UP, it had appeal across states and became a sub-regional force in many of them. If it was not a player, it was a good enough spoiler. And if it was not a political choice of social groups, it asserted itself as a moral authority on emancipation. Now, BSP risks being nothing than a spent force all around.