BSP on the wane, scheduled caste community pin hopes on Congress, BSP, Chhattisgarh BSP, Cast wise voters, Chhattisgarh news, Congress news.
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- Category: Chhattisgarh News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:50
BSP on the wane, Scheduled caste community pin hopes on Congress, BSP, Chhattisgarh BSP, Cast wise voters, Chhattisgarh news, Congress news.
BILASPUR: When Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram contested his maiden Lok Sabha polls from Chhattisgarh region's Janjgir in 1984 in undivided Madhya Pradesh, he set in motion a new era of political empowerment for dalits.
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Now, nearly three decades later, BSP has virtually lost its grip even over the scheduled caste community—forcing the SC voters to shift their loyalties to the BJP and the Congress in state's bipolar politics.
BSP founder Kanshi Ram considered central Chhattisgarh as his home turf, where he visited frequently to unite the scheduled caste community, which constitutes nearly 12% of the state's 2.5 crore voters. Satnamis (followers of Satnam panth), constitute the majority among them. It is believed that they always vote as a block that can make or mar the prospects of candidates in a number of constituencies.
Though only 10 of the 90 assembly seats are reserved for the SCs, the community has a significant presence in about 50 constituencies and their vote can influence the outcome of polls.
"After formation of Chhattisgarh, we thought that BSP will be able to consolidate its position, but things went topsy-turvy as the party, under its present leadership drifted from its founder's ideology. It left the SC voters confused. They began moving more towards the Congress than the BJP," said Dauram Ratnakar, BSP's state president during the undivided Madhya Pradesh and later in Chhattisgarh.
Subsequently, he was expelled from the BSP. Now Ratnakar, who was a blue-eyed boy of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, has floated his own political outfit Bahujan Samaj Mukti Morcha, which is fielding its candidates from 16 constituencies in the coming assembly polls.
In the 2008 assembly polls, BJP had won five seats reserved for the SCs and four were bagged by the Congress and BSP had to content with only one seat. Besides, BSP won an unreserved seat. Saurabh Singh, who had won on a BSP ticket from unreserved Akaltara, was in fact a ticket aspirant from Congress. Now, just before the polls this year, he left BSP and returned to the Congress fold.
During last 10 years in power, BJP has displeased the powerful Satnami community, which is now drifting towards the Congress. In opposition Congress, state's first chief minister Ajit Jogi enjoys considerable clout among the Satnami community.
Now, the scheduled castes are on the path of agitation, after the government reduced the reservation list for SCs in government jobs from 16% to 12% on the basis of proportion of various communities, following creation of the new state.
"We have promised the SCs to restore their reservation to 16% if voted to power," said state Congress president Dr Charandas Mahant. Satnami community plays a crucial role even within the dynamics of Congress politics.
When the state Congress leaders attempted to sideline and isolate former chief minister Ajit Jogi, Satnami community leaders organized events to mark the death anniversary of community's renowned social reformer Mini Mata and invited Jogi to attend these functions by providing him an helicopter.
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com