Dipankar Kamble
Just a suggestion!
Caution: This suggestion is just a view and analysis of an amateur Ambedkarite.
I am not a great political analyst; this suggestion just struck my mind when I was sitting idly in the canteen. And I don’t even know how much relevance it holds.
On 18th July 2017, Mayawati (Behenji) resigned from the upper house (Rajya Sabha) with all self-respect because she was not allowed to speak on atrocities on Dalits — I really appreciate this. So here’s a small suggestion for Behenji, though I don’t expect that it will be fulfilled. BSP was the third largest party in the 2014 elections according to the votes it mobilised, which was around 4.15% of total votes polled, but was not able to win a single seat in Lok Sabha.
So if Behenji is planning to contest for Lok Sabha she should contest from Nagpur to send the message to the whole nation that Nagpur has a rich Dalit political legacy, much more stronger than the heritage of the rightist organisations. If she contests from Nagpur, the Sangh will expend all its power, from head to toe, to ensure Mayawati’s defeat. And to counter the opposition of the Sangh, every Dalit will exert all their energies to get Mayawati elected. In this situation, India will encounter a great election.
I am very well aware that some people of Nagpur who claim the legacy of Dr Ambedkar and the Republican movement will oppose the nomination of Mayawati but they hold the least popularity and relevance among the Dalit population: this is one side of the coin. The other side of the coin: I will have to share with the readers an instance when I was talking to a senior BSP leader’s son/daughter and I put forward the above suggestion before him/her. And his/her reply was: “Why would Mayawati (Behenji) contest elections. She is party president, her level is not to contest elections like the leaders of the RPI?”. Here, I would like to strongly remind all the BSP workers and leaders that even Babasaheb contested in an election from Bhandara.
Why did Babasaheb contest in an election…? Was he an opportunistic leader? The reason Babasaheb took part in the election was that he wanted to build a movement, and garner all the secular, minority votes. In 1977, when Barrister Rajabhau Khobragade contested election from Nagpur, he was in 2nd position with 1,30,457 votes against a Congress candidate. Please appreciate the fact that the 1977 election was strongly against Indira Gandhi because the whole opposition united against her. The same situation is before us today: Narendra Modi replaced Indira Gandhi.
If Mayawati (Behenji) contests from Nagpur, this will be a direct political fight between Sangh vs Bhoomi (Deeksha Bhoomi) and all the dalit votes will gravitate towards her because this will come as a challenge to every dalit voter’s existence.
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Dipankar Devesh Kamble is a student at National Law University, Nagpur, and Management member of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Education Society, Bramhapuri. He can be contacted at kambledipankar10@gmail.com
