BSP to hold massive rally to gain foothold among Dalits

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will hold a rally against the drug menace at Phagwara on March 15, a move being seen as an attempt to arrest the shrinking voter base of the party in the state where every third resident is a Dalit.

According to official data, the state has around 32% Dalit population, but the party could get only 2.49 per cent of the total votes polled in the 2024 General Election, a drop of 1.03 per cent in the vote share when compared with the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.

However, party leaders did not disclose if BSP supremo Mayawati would turn up for their “Punjab Sambhalo Rally” being organised at the Phagwara grain market that has the capacity to accommodate thousands of people.

The rally will also mark the birth anniversary of party ideologue Kanshi Ram. It is part of nationwide celebrations to mark the event.

State BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri said the rally would be followed by the strengthening of the party’s organisational structure in Punjab ahead of the 2027 state Assembly poll.

“We want to tell people that it is only the BSP that can provide reprieve from the scourge of drugs. Following the party president’s (Mayawati) directives, the BSP is heading towards a stronger organisational presence in the state,” he added.

The remarks came a day after the BSP supremo sacked his nephew Akash Anand from the national coordinator’s post and said she won’t name a successor in her lifetime.

Karimpuri, however, did not rule out the possibility of entering into an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) again.

Both SAD and the BSP had contested the 2022 Assembly poll together in the state. The BSP severed its ties with SAD ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha poll. It failed to win any of the 13 Lok Sabha seats it contested in Punjab.

Commenting the tie-up with the SAD, the leader said, “We are currently self-sufficient and developing our cadre. What the future holds for us is difficult to say. No possibility can be ruled out."

The leader also slammed previous regimes in the state for “ruining” Punjab financially.

"Whether it be the SAD-BJP, Congress or AAP, all parties have emboldened the drug mafia. The drug problem took roots under the SAD-BJP regime and grew by leaps and bounds under the Congress and AAP,” he said.