Rise of the Dalit Voice

Even as political parties were getting to represent people on the basis of religion and the OBCs, the Dalits (much more commonly used now than the official scheduled caste or the Gandhian term ‘Harijan’) were also being consolidated into being represented by their own party. In earlier times, the

Congress had always drawn the Dalit votes, and after the death of Ambedkar the Dalits found a leader in Jagjivan Ram. The Congress in this aspect was challenged only by the Republican Party in Maharashtra and by the more militant Dalit Panthers, also in the same state. But alongside, as far back as in the 1970s, Kanshi Ram, having quit his government job, had mobilised Dalit government employees into an organisation

– the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF). This organisation attracted a large number of followers. Encouraged, Kanshi Ram started a political party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which, as indicated by the choice of the name ‘bahujan’, was to represent not just Dalits but other backward castes as well as Muslims and other as well over time. The area of influence was mainly Uttar Pradesh.

The Dalits were drawn by the narrative that the BSP presented – that the Congress was merely using them as vote banks whereas the BSP stood for social justice and change that would take the Dalits along the path of progress. The BSP fought the 1984 elections but won no seat though it got quite a few votes. In the Uttar Pradesh state elections it made an impressive showing. In 1993, the party won more than 60 seats, mostly drawing away votes from the Congress, and became a major player in Uttar Pradesh politics alongside the Samajwadi party and the BJP.

Mayawati, a protégé of Kanshi Ram, succeeded him as the leader of the BSP. She was the one who built up alliances with other caste groups and political parties. She won a Lok Sabha seat in 1989. In 1995, In June 1995, she created history by becoming the first-ever Dalit woman in India to serve as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Though her term in office was short, in later years she was to come back as chief minister of the state. In 2007 she became chief minister and this time she stayed in that post till 2012.