The Bahujan Samaj Party is now organising a brahmin maha sammelan in Lucknow on July 7 to wrap up its series of about 38 brahmin sammelans that were held in the past months in Uttar Pradesh.
Ms Mayawati, according to sources, will be addressing the brahmin maha sammelan in Lucknow and will make an attempt to clear doubts and questions being raised by brahmins regarding the BSP’s policy on reservation in promotion that adversely affects upper castes.
The BSP president will inform the brahmins about how her government had given participation in power to brahmins and how she had ensured respect for the brahmin community at all levels.
She will explain her party’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and also inform them that the non-BSP parties, particularly the Samajwadi Party, has exploited and insulted the upper castes.
The three dozen brahmin sammelans held so far in Uttar Pradesh have been addressed by BSP MP Satish Chandra Misra who is the brahmin face of the party. Ms Mayawati, sources said, has seen the video recording of each sammelan and has been making assessment of the response to these events.
The BSP has already given tickets to 20 brahmin candidates in 71 seats that the party has declared candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. In 2009, the BSP had also given 20 tickets to brahmins and five of them had won.
The BSP, meanwhile, has asked all its 20 brahmin candidates to ensure huge crowds at the maha sammelan. The sammelan will obviously be a show of strength for the brahmin candidates and could also be a yardstick of their popularity in their constituencies.
Party sources said that after the Brahmin Maha Sammelan, the BSP would concentrate on consolidating its base among Muslims through Muslim Bhaichara Sammelans. Former BSP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui will be leading the Muslim Bhaichara Sammelans across the state.
“The party leadership firmly believes that with Brahmin and Muslim support – along with Dalit votes—in each constituencies, the BSP can easily end up with 45-50 seats which would turn Ms Mayawati into a king maker of sorts at the national level. Ms Mayawati will then hold the master key and the next government will be forced to toe her line,” said a party functionary.
Besides, Ms Mayawati is also eyeing Dalit sub-castes – particularly non-Jatav—to consolidate her party’s base in the community. The BSP leader will soon begin targeting non-Yadav OBCs since she believes that this group is unhappy with the Samajwadi Party regime that favors Yadavs to a great extent.