Despite heavy odds, SP Alliance returned 36 Muslim MLAs out of the 64 that it had fielded. The wisdom shown by minority voters helped in diluting the effect of Mayawati’s strategic planning to divide Muslim votes. BSP had fielded 88 and Congress 75, Muslim candidates but they all lost at the hustling. None made it to the winning line.
If there is anyone party that the BJP has to thank for helping it reach the victory line, it is not from its alliance partners but Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. Even with no formal poll pact, the BSP through its tactical alliance succeeded in transferring its core Dalit and OBC vote to the BJP. The BSP won just one seat in the 403 seats that it contested. Right from the beginning, it was being said that BSP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM were two B teams of BJP and the voting pattern has proved it right.
It was pointed out by this correspondent right after the party candidates list was announced that Mayawati was playing a different poll game. This time she had chosen the role of the king maker and was not in the race for being the King.
Mayawati fielded maximum Muslims
She had fielded maximum Muslims -88 to be precise, while SP had fielded 64 and Congress had given tickets to 75 Muslims. With BSP’s almost nil campaigning it was obvious that the minority meharbaani was to divide the SP Muslim candidate votes. Mayawati seemed to have assigned for herself the role of the ‘Game changer or call it he game spoiler.
She freely gave tickets to the Muslim candidates, many of them Turncoats from SP who had been denied tickets by Akhilesh. Two very prominent SP leaders who won and lost on BSP tickets include former SP MLA Rushdie of Rudauli and former SP minister and Shivpal loyalist, Sayyeda Shadab Fatima. They both not only lost their own seats but helped raise the BJP tally.
But it is commendable that even in this scenario 36 of SP Alliance Muslim candidates won. These MLAs come from the 70 constituencies which have over 30 percent Muslim population. The victors included two jailed Muslim sitting MLAs, Mohammad Azam Khan, and H Nahid Hasan. In 2017 there were just 24 Muslim MLAs from SP. But this time the wise consolidated voting of the MY (Muslim, Yadav) voters increased this number.
Her second strategy was the call for the transfer of her core and committed Dalit and non-Yadav vote bank to the BJP. This worked too as for this section Mayawati is the messiah.
Fear of the CBI cases?
Of course, the fear of the CBI cases and her unabated lust for power at a time when she and her party has been reduced to naught is behind this move. It is being said in political circles that Mayawati has bartered the party and her committed voters at the altar of being the first Dalit woman Vice- president of India. Mayawati has succeeded, at least temporarily, in removing the Damocles’ Sword hanging heavily over her head.
But by doing so Mayawati has reduced the BSP party, built painstakingly by Kashiram to zero. She has left the Dalit population helpless and weak, vulnerable. Without a leader to safeguard their interests at the moment they are ideally positioned for exploitation. Sad but true.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
