UP Politics: More than a year is left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Before this, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP along with the Congress are also trying to prepare their political ground in front of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s largest state. Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Congress knocked in those areas of UP, which are Muslim and Dalit dominated. Samajwadi Party and BSP have also adopted this political formula of social engineering.
At present, BSP supremo Mayawati is trying her best to save her eroding political base in Uttar Pradesh. In the past, the decision to include UP’s Bahubali Atiq Ahmed’s family in the BSP has indicated that Mayawati, who played for the upper-caste-Dalit alliance in the UP assembly elections 2022, has now changed her strategy towards the Dalit-Muslim alliance. have turned.
At the same time, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav is also moving forward on the strategy of wooing Dalits along with Yadav voters. In fact, one thing came out from the results of the UP assembly elections 2022 that Akhilesh got Muslim votes along with OBC voters. Had the SP got the support of the Dalits, it could have created history in the assembly elections. However, in spite of this, Akhilesh Yadav had brought SP to a strong position in terms of vote share with the help of alliance with smaller political parties.
BSP and SP will test equations in municipal elections
Congress, SP and BSP all three have geared up for the municipal elections to be held in UP. BSP supremo Mayawati is going to go ahead with the strategy of fielding Muslim candidates for the post of mayor in several districts to test the stakes of Dalit-Muslim alliance in the municipal elections. Imran Masood, who left the Samajwadi Party and joined the BSP in October last year, was immediately made the coordinator of Western UP by Mayawati. This favor of the BSP on Imran was seen as an attempt to bring Muslim voters back to the party in the Dalit-dominated seats of western Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, using the political status of Bahubali Atiq Ahmed’s family, Mayawati wants to create a similar atmosphere in the districts of Purvanchal. So that the penetration of BSP can be restored among the Muslim voters. Along with this, Muslim leaders like Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali are continuously being included in the BSP.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has also made up his mind to use the civic body elections to add Dalits to his MY equation. There is talk in political circles that Akhilesh Yadav is trying to find a counter to the BSP through a young Dalit leader like Chandrashekhar Azad. Actually, in the victory of RJD in the Khatauli assembly by-election, the support of the Dalit voters, who got the alliance through Chandrashekhar, is being considered important. RLD President Jayant Chowdhary, who has considerable influence among the Jat voters of western Uttar Pradesh, has also liked Chandrashekhar’s company. It is being said that by promoting Chandrashekhar Azad, Akhilesh Yadav has killed two birds with one stone. Firstly, with the help of Chandrashekhar, he can get the support of Dalit voters. Secondly, Chandrashekhar can also be used to limit the influence of RLD in western Uttar Pradesh.
Muslim-Dalit-Extreme Backward alliance will create history
The non-Yadav Extremely Backward Class voters in UP are more than 35 percent. At the same time, the number of Dalit voters in the state is about 22 percent. Not only this, Uttar Pradesh has about 20 percent Muslim population, which is known for its one-sided voting. The total percentage of voters of these three communities becomes close to 77 percent. If any political party manages these three communities, then it will not only give competition to BJP, but it will also have a strong grip on power.
Mayawati did not change her strategy just like that
Mayawati, who formed the government with a majority in UP in 2007, got the support of non-Yadav castes of extremely backward classes along with Muslim-Dalit-Brahmin. On the other hand, in the Lok Sabha elections held in 2009, the BSP had won 21 seats, taking on the Congress and the SP. Mayawati wants to repeat the same political equation again in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. For this reason, Mayawati has made Vishwanath Pal, who comes from the most backward class, sit on the post of state president.
This is the first time after 24 years, when a Pal community leader has occupied the chair of BSP state president in UP. In fact, the political support base of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has almost ended and most of its supporters have shifted towards the SP, leaving its cadre vote bank. At the same time, BSP has given open statements on matters ranging from Haldwani issue to Saharanpur riots to connect the Muslim voters who went with SP with the party.
Akhilesh is also trying to bet his father’s ‘charkha’
At the same time, due to following the politics of soft Hindutva these days, Akhilesh Yadav’s attitude has softened a bit. However, internally SP is not letting loose the bond of relations with Muslim voters. On the other hand, by promoting a Dalit leader like Chandrashekhar Azad, he has also set an eye on Jatav and non-Jatav votes. If Akhilesh Yadav manages to add Dalits to his MY equation, he will be in a position to give a direct fight to the BJP. However, the BJP has also started wooing Yadavs, Jatavs and Pasmanda Muslims, who are considered traditional voters of other parties.
To put it simply, it will be interesting to see in whose hands the Muslim-Dalit-Extreme Backward alliance takes hold in UP. Actually, this alliance can prove to be beneficial for BSP in 2024 as well and has the potential to make Akhilesh-Chandrashekhar pair a game changer.
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