BSP hopes for a Maya wave in MP

From Anirban Bhaumik, DH News Service, Gwalior:
"UP hai hamari, ab bari hai MP ki (UP is ours now, its now time to take MP)," shouted Kishore Pandey, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) activist, as party chief Mayawati appeared on the makeshift podium and waved to the crowd.


““Ab koi ruk nehi payegi, Hati Dilli jayegi (None can now stop the elephant’s march to Delhi)”, bellowed another elderly BSP supporter Munnalal Kushwaha, waving the party’s blue flag with the picture of a jumbo (the party’s symbol) embossed on it.

Pandey is a Brahmin and Kushwaha a Dalit. Both were among the thousands who waited for the chief minister of the neighbouring state for nearly three hours at the Phool Bagh Maidan here.

“They call ours a party of Dalits. But, look at our government in UP. Many upper-caste people are now ministers,” said Mayawati. “We have also given tickets to many Brahmins, Kshatriayas and other upper-caste people in Madhya Pradesh too”, she added.

She has been on a whirlwind tour of the poll-bound state for the past few days — hoping that her now-famous formula of ‘social engineering’ that helped the BSP win votes of both the upper and lower castes in UP would do magic here too.

The BSP is contesting all seats, and many of its candidates are former Congress and BJP stalwarts, who quit their parent organisations after being denied tickets.

Balendu Shukla of the Congress is one of the big catches of the BSP in the Gwalior-Chambal region. The 63-year-old Brahmin leader is now the BSP candidate in the Gwalior South constituency. Nine of Mayawati’s candidates in the 34 constituencies in Gwalior-Chambal region are Brahmins, while six others are Kshatriyas.

The BSP chief on Saturday spoke about several development and welfare projects launched by her government in UP and promised to replicate them in MP if her party is voted to power. “Our party feels that there should be reservation for poor people belonging to upper castes too. And, I promise this will be our priority, once we reach the seat of power in Delhi,” said Mayawati.