Clearly identifying social activist Anna Hazare’s campaign on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh elections as a political threat, the BSP is gearing up to take the wind out of the Gandhian’s sails by pitching him directly against B.R. Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution.
BSP supremo Mayawati is learnt to have chalked out an aggressive strategy to discredit the Gandhian activist by challenging him for attempting to destroy the Constitution drafted by a dalit leader.
After having closely examined Mr Hazare’s movement in Delhi, the BSP will be confronting him politically on the street. The strategy is not to allow Mr Hazare to have a free run on the anti-corruption plank and to pin him down for what the BSP perceives as his “class bias”.
“Unlike the Congress, which gave Delhi to Anna Hazare on a platter, the BSP will unleash a campaign to confront him on class bias. The BSP will pose a lot of questions to him in Lucknow and party workers will be right there in his crowd to ask these questions,” said a senior BSP functionary.
“Mr Hazare belongs to the kurmi community and has not done a bit to improve their lot in Maharashtra. It was Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj (Shahu IV of Kolhapur), a kurmi, who sent Ambedkar for higher education and gave reservation to a dalit on his estate. It was Dr Ambedkar’s dream to return the favour by ensuring reservation for kurmis, which was later completed by Kanshi Ram,” the BSP functionary added while making it clear that the attempt is to dwarf Mr Hazare by pitching him against Ambedkar.
The BSP appears in no mood to allow Mr Hazare to ride the anti-corruption bandwagon in UP just before the Assembly elections and is looking ahead to turn his campaign in party’s favour by bringing into focus the issue of empowerment of dalits and OBCs. “The Constitution, drafted by a dalit, has empowered dalits and OBCs. If Mr Hazare is allowed to change the Constitution itself, then one day even the provisions giving benefits to dalits and OBCs may be challenged in the same way. This threat will be communicated to the people,” added the BSP functionary.