Maya’s gameplan may not turn every ‘18th’ into a June 2

Lucknow: BSP president Mayawati’s plan to turn the 18th of every month into a symbol of dalit empowerment – like she had done with June 2 about 22 years ago — may not cut much ice with her dalit vote bank this time.

On June 2, 1995, Ms Mayawati and BSP MLAs had been physically attacked by Samajwadi men at the state guest house which led to a breakup of the SP-BSP alliance and the forging of the new alliance with the BJP.

For almost 22 years, the BSP used the June 2 incident to berate the Samajwadi Party and alienate dalits completely from Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. This also led to a sharp hostility between the two parties which has diluted to an extent after Mr Akhilesh Yadav took over as president and sidelined his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Ms Mayawati has chosen to hold rallies across the state on the 18th of every month from September — she had resigned from the Rajya Sabha on 18th July and hence the significance of the date. “The party will not be able to revive the impact of the June 2 incident with rallies on the 18th of every month because there is a basic difference between the two incidents. On June 2, she and other BSP MLAs were under attack but this time no such incident has taken place. Not being allowed to speak in Rajya Sabha is not a potent enough issue that will bring dalits back to the BSP fold”, said a BSP MLA on condition of anonymity.