The Hindu : New Delhi News : BSP ‘elephant’ marches on DELhi assembly elections 2008

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BSP ‘elephant’ marches on DELhi assembly elections 2008

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Growing on unique socio-economic and political model

- Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

Seeking blessings: BSP chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati with party candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections at a campaign rally in the Capital on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: The Congress and the BJP may like it or not but slowly and steadily the Bahujan Samaj Party “elephant” has made a space for itself in Delhi and the party is now in serious contest for nearly 20 Delhi Assembly seats with its candidates being in position to secure a place in the top two in about half as many.

Be it the rural countryside of Delhi or the posh new areas like Rohini, the pachyderm march is there to be seen. For a party that has long shed its “Tilak, taraju aur talwar, sab ko maro joote chaar….” refrain and brought into Delhi its “social engineering” model without the help of the media or expensive advertisement campaigns, the rise has been fast and furious.

Interestingly, the party has not organised a single press conference so far in Delhi and not even released a list of its candidates. That, however, has not made any impact on its followers and supporters whose latest favourite slogan is ``Chalega haathi, udegi dhool, na rahega haath, na khilega phool” (The BSP Elephant will march forward kicking up dust; neither will one see the Congress hand nor the blooming BJP flower).Just as in Uttar Pradesh probably no one noticed, or wanted to note, the manner in which the party has strengthened its base in Delhi has also largely gone unobserved. But be it keeping a watch on the candidates or employing UP Ministers for organising meetings and rallies, the party has left no stone unturned.

Rather than making public announcements about issues at regular briefings, the party has relied heavily on immaculate planning and ground-level management to bolster its prospects. As such when in Ghonda Congress announced the candidature of sitting MLA Bheesham Sharma, the BSP withdrew its symbol from a Brahmin Satyavir Sharma and gave it to a Gujjar Rohtas Kumar instead.The party also appears to have taken a leaf out of the book of Chaudhary Charan Singh’s Lok Dal – now known as Rashtriya Lok Dal -- that has maintained its hold in western UP by giving tickets to prominent leaders from various communities while retaining its own Jat vote bank. Likewise, in Delhi, the BSP has given tickets to strong candidates from a cross-section of society, cutting across caste, religion and region lines. So be it former Congress MLA Ram Singh Netaji in Badarpur, who was denied a ticket by the Congress, and is now contesting against arch-rival Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, or the richest candidate Kanwar Singh Tanwar who is locked in a direct contest with the BJP’s Brahm Singh Tanwar in Chhattarpur, the party has several strong candidates.

The other constituencies where the party candidates appear to be in direct contest with their opponents are Narela where Sharad Kumar is posing a challenge to the Congress; Timarpur, where Sanjeev Kumar is giving his BJP opponent Suryaprakash Khatri a tought fight; Badli which is seeing a fight between Ajesh yadav of the BSP and Devender Yadav of the Congress, Nangloi Jat where Naresh Goyal of the BSP is facing Bijender Singh of the Congress and Palam where Madan Mohan is taking on Mahender Yadav of the Congress. Other seats where BSP candidates are in straight contest are Tughlakabad where the BSP has fielded Sahi Ram Pehelwan, Kondli where Chander Pal Singh is its candidate, Gokulpur where Surender Kumar has got the ticket and Deoli where Shri Lal of the dhobi samaj is contesting on the party symbol.

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