Muslim appeasement: Have Dalits been disillusioned with Mayawati?

Lucknow: Repeated claim by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), meeting after meeting, that all the Dalit castes are with her and that she is enjoying their full support as in previous elections, has got tongue wagging in Uttar Pradesh.

Election veterans do not recall any election in the state in the recent past when she had openly talked about it. There was no need .Their support was taken for granted. It was well known to most of people that the majority of them will not go for any other party.

She had the same confidence. Why is this change then? Why is she proclaiming it from the house top? Does she have any doubt over it this time? Why did this need arise?

These questions are upper most in the minds of many people. One of the explanations is that she is not so confident about their support now partly because of allotment higher number of seats to the Muslim community at the cost of Dalits.

Unlike the past, she has fielded a record 100 Muslims in this year's assembly elections in the state, much more than Dalits. This has certainly not pleased all Dalit castes, especially non-Jatavs.

She has played this gamble only to unseat the Samajwadi Party which had wrested power from her in the previous assembly elections. Also because she had faced a rout in the previous Lok Sabha polls.

If she does not improve her tally from the previous assembly polls when she had bagged only 80 seats, a large number of Dalits may go away and look for an alternative. She may not remain an undisputed Dalit leader.

All these questions may be bothering her . They might be there in her sub-conscious mind and might have got out in some unguarded moments.

Another explanation is that she has been saying it repeatedly because of fear of losing Muslim votes.If they are not sure of Dalits' full support to her they may back the SP, finding the BSP not strong enough to defeat the BJP.

Her whole plan depends on Dalit and Muslim support for success. Any dent into these votes by its main rival, SP, will make her position vulnerable. She cannot like it because not only present but it will affect her future.

There is certainly something to it. She is not insisting on it for nothing. So far it has remained a mystery.