BSP finds it tough to woo young dalits

Faced with desertions, the Bahujan Samaj Party is now getting wary of the younger generations of dalits in Uttar Pradesh.

Highly placed sources in the BSP disclosed that the party was no longer confident of getting unquestioned support from the young dalits.

“This is a major cause for worry because we are unable to ascertain the mood of the young generation, which seems to be questioning us at every occasion,” said a senior party functionary.

The BSP has been used to dalits in the state blindly following its directives and revering its leaders without ever asking questions. This ensured that the party’s votes could be transferred without any problem, and also built up the BSP’s USP in politics and made parties vie for an alliance with it.

A retired dalit IAS officer explained, “Dalits used the worship the ground on which leaders like the late Kanshi Ram walked. They never questioned the decision of the party and blindly believed that whatever the leaders did was for their good. One message from the leaders was enough to transfer dalit votes in elections but things have changed rapidly. The BSP leadership has alienated itself from its cadres, allegations of corruption have taken away the sheen and the younger generations in the community have started asking questions.”

The party functionary echoed similar sentiments and said, “The youth in the dalit community has become upwardly mobile. They have access to social networking sites and can Google information. They now question us and will not take directions easily.”

A party coordinator recalled a recent incident and said that when he announced the name of a candidate at a meeting and asked the people to vote for him, three youths came up to him and asked, “On what basis has this candidate (a non-dalit) been selected What has been his contribution towards dalits Why should we vote for him ”

Another major factor that is damaging the BSP’s relationship with its young voters is the party’s absence on the social media. As is common knowledge, BSP cadres are not allowed to remain active on the social media platform and neither are they allowed to attend social functions hosted by non-BSP people.

“The social media today connects you to the world and staying away from it is an archaic idea. I am active on these sites and if a party asks me to abstain, I would rather leave the party,” Vipul Kumar Gautam, a young dalit student in the Lucknow University.

The BSP, without the support of young dalits who constitute near six per cent of the community’s population, cannot hope of forming a majority government in Uttar Pradesh.