Mayawati’s mixed signals

Mayawati’s alliance with the Ajit Jogi-led Chhattisgarh Janata Congress (CJC) in Chhattisgarh has caused shockwaves in the Congress-led Opposition camp that was banking on a BSP-partnered mahagathbandhan to help tide over the Modi challenge in 2019. There are allegations that the glacial pace of CBI cases against Mayawati may have encouraged her to plump for a third front that may compete with the mahagathbandhan for anti-BJP votes. The argument is buttressed by Mayawati’s statement thanking the BJP for officially allotting her a mansion in Lucknow. Be that as it may, there are several other factors that may have made Mayawati appear like a party-pooper for a Congress-led alliance.

The first is Mayawati’s reduced bargaining power after the BJP government’s surprise decision to free the jailed radical Dalit activist from UP, Chandrashekhar. This move seeks to remove the impression of the Yogi government being tilted against the Dalits after the violence in Muzaffarnagar. But now that he is free, the youth’s radical zeal will compete with Mayawati’s charisma among Dalits in UP. Mayawati is politically sagacious in trying to position herself as a pan-Indian Dalit leader by appearing to call the shots in alliances in the adjoining states of MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The BSP leader can in fairness claim that her striking of a deal with the anti-Congress, anti-BJP Ajit Jogi is not out of the blue. She has tied up with the Chautala parivar-led INLD in Haryana and struck a successful alliance with the JD (S) in Karnataka. While she sacrificed her interests by supporting mahagathbandhan candidates in three Lok Sabha bypolls in UP, she now needs samaanjanak accommodation in any broad Opposition alliance. The Congress needs to watch out for other secular allies aligning with an emergent third front and consider their electoral costs. Mayawati may or may not have been motivated by extraneous considerations. But a mahagathbandhan needs to live up to its name by demonstratively indicating that it will fairly include all secular parties in its tent.