BSP Finds a Leader in Karnataka, will it be able to make a dent? | A. Jayaram

Published on 27-12-2007 In National

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BSP Finds a Leader in Karnataka, will it be able to make a dent?

A section of the press in Bangalore screamed " Mayawati Invades the South" in the headlines for a report on the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's public meeting held here on Sunday which witnessed the formal entry of the rebel Janata Dal (Secular) leader P.G.R.Sindhia into her Bahujan Samaj Party.

A sober reflection shows that it was a visit on the part of Mayawati and her addressing a rally attended by supporters of various dalit organizations and not an invasion or a conquest. Apart from Sindhia, no other prominent politician jumped on her bandwagon.

The significance of Sindhia's entry into the BSP is that for the first time the Party has attracted a political leader of stature. Hitherto there were no takers for that Party. Sunday's development was similar to the former chief minister S.Bangarappa joining Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajawadi party last year. Bangarappa who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Shimoga in 2004 as the nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was disillusioned that he could not carry his seniority into that party. He resigned his membership of Parliament and was reelected on the Samajawadi Party ticket from the same constituency.

Mayawati has only made a foray into Karnataka and has much to learn about State politics. It is another thing that a politician who is yet to gain a foothold in the South and also the East, has been nursing the vaulting ambition of becoming the Prime Minister. On the other hand, her mentor and founder of the BSP, the Late Kanshiram was a better-known face in Karnataka. In fact it was he who brought the Party some popularity in Karnataka. The BSP had won a single seat in the 1994 Assembly election from Bidar through Syed Zulfiqar Hashmi.

Other than that victory, the major political parties regard it for its "nuisance value". Congress circles blame the BSP candidates for the loss of about 20 Assembly seats in the 2004 elections. The BSP candidates cut into the votes of the Congress causing their defeat in the Hyderabad-Karnatak districts in particular.

However it is not for the first time a political party formed to espouse the cause of the dalits is making its bow in various parts of Karnataka. The Republican Party had a member in the Karnataka Assembly-Prof.S.S.Arakeri serving the Balloli (SC) constituency in Bijapur District during 1967-71. However the more prominent Republican Party politician in Karnataka was the late C.M.Arumugham elected from Kolar Gold Fields (SC) who had the patronage of the former Congress chief minister R.Gundu Rao. In fact the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Mallikarjun Kharge entered politics through the Republican Party.

P.G.R.Sindhia's entry into a Party, which is yet to make a mark in Karnataka, explains the quandary in which several of the JD (S) leaders opposed to the domination of the Deve Gowda family, are placed. The option for them is to join the Congress or the BJP or float a new party. So far some of the dissident JD (S) members in the dissolved Assembly have shown an inclination towards joining the Congress. Their plans to quit the JD (S) suffered a setback with the former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah joining the Congress.

Not all the former JD (S) members who fell out with the Deve Gowda clan were for joining the Congress or even the BJP. Sindhia was one among them. They had earlier expected Siddaramaiah to form a new political party.

Sindhia's worth lies in the fact that unlike most other prominent politicians in the State he had remained steadfast in his loyalty to the Janata Dal groups. He was a follower of Ramakrishna Hegde.

An Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader in his student days in the Bangalore University, Sindhia took part in the JP Movement and had been jailed during the days of the Emergency. He joined the Janata Party and entered the State Assembly in 1983. He later resigned his seat (Kanakapura) to enable Ramakrishna Hegde who had become the Chief Minister to be elected to the State Assembly. Kanakapura became his pocket borough and Sindhia served as a minister in the Janata or Janata Dal governments holding important portfolios including Home and Finance.

Considered chief ministerial material, Sindhia's one drawback is that he belongs to a small caste group, the Marathas. Despite their meagre numbers, the Marathas have managed to win five or six seats in each Assembly, thanks mainly to Belgaum District. Besides Sindhia, the other well-known Maratha politician of the State has been M.Y.Ghorpade, the former minister who is from the erstwhile royal family of Sandur in Bellary District. An engineer by education and an able administrator, Sindhia had tried to project himself as a leader of the backward classes.

Thus Mayawati has been able to win over an important political leader but not a caste group. It should also be mentioned that unlike in some of the northern States, in Karnataka no political party can claim the allegiance of an entire caste group.

It should also be seen as to where would the BSP find itself in Karnataka, where the Samajawadi Party has come to realize that it is a marginal player despite having Bangarappa as its leader. There are in fact too many political leaders championing the backward class cause. Moreover in States like Tamilnadu and Karnataka, the backward classes and even the scheduled castes are better off than elsewhere.

With the political space in the State already occupied by the BJP, the Congress and the JD (S), the BSP is most likely to cut into the votes of the Congress and the JD (S) as it has to rely on the support of dalits and Muslims. Even among dalits, the Left Hand or Madiga group that has its grouse against the Holeyas (Right Hand group) has moved towards the BJP. The Madigas are not known to be strict followers of the Ambedkar line of thought, adopted by the BSP. The Brahmin factor does not work in Karnataka, where the caste constitutes only about 3.5 per cent of the population. Though not uninterested in politics, the Brahmins in the State are happier with the national parties like the BJP and the Congress (I) and not even with the JD (S).

Sindhia has no doubt taken the plunge and has to build up the BSP in Karnataka attracting new adherents. He might not have any problem in retaining his Kanakapura Assembly seat, which is close to Bangalore with his popularity and service.

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