The terminal decline of the Bahujan Samaj Party in its stronghold Uttar Pradesh has led to an existential crisis. Faced with the threat of losing its national party status, the BSP has fully invested itself in improving its performance in the upcoming Haryana Assembly election.
This shift is evident in the BSP’s increased media coverage over the past few weeks. Based on interactions with party officials and local experts, I examine the strategies that the BSP is employing to strengthen its foothold in Haryana.
Return to coalition politics
The BSP has formed an alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), led by Om Prakash Chautala and Abhay Chautala. This marks a significant departure in the leadership style of Mayawati, who has preferred forming coalitions with castes and communities rather than regional parties. Although the BSP had a strong track record of forming alliances with regional parties during the leadership of Kanshi Ram, the party has deviated from this strategy under the leadership of Mayawati. Nevertheless, recent developments indicate a shift from this strategy.
Besides entering into a coalition with the INLD, the BSP has declared Abhay Chautala as its chief ministerial candidate. Mayawati herself made this announcement on 25 September at an event in Uchana, which was organised to mark the birth anniversary of former deputy PM Chaudhary Devi Lal, the founder of the INLD. While publicly endorsing Abhay Chautala, Mayawati also announced that the BSP-INLD coalition, if it wins the election, would appoint one deputy chief minister from the Dalit community and another from either the upper castes or backward castes. No other party has announced plans to appoint a Dalit deputy CM. This move from Mayawati can infuse enthusiasm among this section of voters.
Also read: Is the game over for BSP? Mayawati’s politics pales in the face of Kanshi Ram’s legacy
Focused effort on select constituencies
The BSP is concentrating its efforts on specific constituencies, which mainly include Ateli, Assandh, Jagadhari, Sadhaura, Narayangarh, Yamunanagar, and Prithala. The party’s strategy is based on its past performance in these constituencies and the existing social equations, as its candidates have come close to winning these constituencies in previous elections.
In Ateli, the party has renominated Thakur Attar Lal (Rajput), who finished as the runner-up in the 2019 Assembly election, securing 37,387 votes. Similarly, Gopal Singh Rana (Rajput) is fielded in Assandh; his father, Narendra Singh Rana, lost the 2019 election by a narrow margin of just 1,703 votes. In Sadhaura, the party has nominated Brijpal Chappar, the runner-up from the BJP in 2019. The BJP has denied him renomination. In this constituency, the BSP’s Sahi Ram secured 25,874 votes in the 2019 Assembly election. The BSP is hoping to combine Chappar’s personal support base with that of the INLD and BSP to secure victory.
The party is also optimistic about Jagadhari, where it has fielded Darshan Lal Kheda, a Punjabi refugee and prominent businessman. This constituency has a significant presence of the Punjabi refugee community. In Naraingarh, the BSP has nominated Harbilas Singh, another wealthy businessman who has campaigned extensively.
Ambala and Yamunanagar have a significant presence of voters from the Chamar community, one of the reasons the BSP has historically performed well in these constituencies. Therefore, the party is again optimistic in these constituencies. In Yamunanagar, INLD’s Dilbagh Singh, a relative of Abhay Chautala, finished as the runner-up in the 2019 assembly election. In Prithala, the BSP has renominated Surendra Vashitha, where Tek Chandra Sharma had won in the 2014 Assembly election.
Furthermore, the BSP is focusing on the Sohna constituency in Gurugram, where its candidate, Sundar Bhadana, has built a strong personal reputation for providing constituency services. Hailing from the Gurjar community, Bhadana is known for distributing bicycles over the years and operating a free bus service, which has earned him significant goodwill in this constituency.
Due to these factors, the BSP leadership has concentrated its resources and efforts in these constituencies, organising maximum rallies of Mayawati and nephew Akash Anand.
Also read: Mayawati & BSP’s political ‘evaporation’ certain. Blame it on shift to ‘Sarvajan Samaj’ in 2007
Boosting party workers’ morale
One of the BSP’s key strategies in the Haryana Assembly election is to boost the morale of its workers. To achieve this, Mayawati’s nephew, Akash Anand, is campaigning extensively across the state. His efforts are being widely shared on social media, with visuals of him personally meeting and greeting party workers and voters. Akash Anand has leaned heavily on senior party leaders like Chaudhary Sahiram, a close associate of Kanshi Ram, as well as younger local leaders such as Sohan Ambedkar and Sanjay Bouddha. He aims to energise the party’s base by combining old experience with new energy.
To further uplift the morale of party workers, Akash Anand has encouraged the nomination of key office bearers not just in reserved constituencies but also in general constituencies. For example, BSP Haryana president Dharampal Tigra is contesting from the Radaur constituency. Similarly, BSP’s Vidhan Sabha prabhari (in-charge) Ravindra Ranga is contesting from Hansi, and Rohtak district president Hawa Singh is the candidate for the Meham constituency, which was once a stronghold of Chaudhary Devi Lal.
Akash Anand has also made efforts to reduce the influence of the “prabhari” system within the BSP, where leaders from Uttar Pradesh are brought in to oversee assembly elections in other states. Instead, he is working to increase the influence of local leaders, hoping that an increased localised approach will resonate better with voters. His ability to carry out these experiments is largely due to his position as Mayawati’s nephew, which gives him the leverage to make changes within the party without fear.
To sum up, the BSP is hoping to improve its performance in the Haryana assembly election scheduled for 5 October to retain its national political significance. For this, the party has adopted localised strategies, evident in its campaign efforts. These include returning to coalition politics with regional parties, targeting selected constituencies, localising the party’s image, and boosting the morale of party workers. Whether these efforts will pay off and lead to a resurgence of the BSP in Haryana remains to be seen, but the party is clearly making a concerted effort for a comeback.
Arvind Kumar (@arvind_kumar__) is Assistant Professor at the Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway, University of London. Sanjay Kumar, CSSP National Coordinator & Professor, Y.D. College, Lakhimpur-Kheri. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)