Anubhi Saxena
LUCKNOW | Mayawati, the Indian political leader of Dalits who hails from Bahujan Samaj Party has shocked everyone by refusing to contest for polls in April-May 2019 elections on March 20′ 2019 and she would rather campaign for the candidates of her BSP and that of ally Samajwadi Party.
“I won’t contest polls. I am confident that my party will completely understand my decision. Our coalition is doing well. I can vacate a seat and contest later if I wish,” the former chief minister told reporters in Lucknow.
Mayawati Ji’s Press conference today on 20 March 2019 announcing not to contest Lok Sabha poll now to ensure victory of each and every seats of the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradeesh. pic.twitter.com/yXJlLpQ4ND
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) March 20, 2019
Mayawati is an icon for India’s low-caste Dalits and a four-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who sends the most number of MPs to parliament. She would instead concentrate on an alliance formed to counter the influence of the ruling BJP. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Jana Sena Pawan Kalyan had recently said that they would like to see Mayawati as the next prime minister of India.
The BSP had contested 503 Lok Sabha seats but won none with a countrywide vote share of five per cent. In Uttar Pradesh, she will hold the first joint rally with her alliance partners, the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, in Deoband on April 7. Ajoy Bose, a journalist who has authored a biography on Ms Mayawati, described the move as “odd“, but suggested it might be an attempt to show herself as being above “petty party politics“.
She had studied law and worked as a teacher before joining politics. Her mentor, Kanshi Ram, was a Dalit leader and politician who founded the BSP. She, at just 39, became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1994. She was the youngest Indian politician to hold the post. She lost the 2012 state election in Uttar Pradesh to the SP.
And yet, Ms Mayawati who is called “behenji”, or “sister”, by her supporters or loved ones, enjoys the the loyalty of India’s poor and Dalits. Ms Mayawati was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2012, but quit her post last year amid caste violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sahranpur district.
The BSP, however, won about 20 per cent of the votes in Uttar Pradesh and secured 3rd number in most seats. The BSP-Samajwadi alliance has proved to be a winner in by-polls last year and is expected to perform good in the upcoming polls. The only spoiler could be because of the Congress, which had launched Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in its UP campaign.
