They began with a bang and have ended with not even a whimper. The dalit-based political parties in Uttar Pradesh that had positioned themselves against the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, seems to have lost the energy and the will to keep up the fight.
Most of these parties have not only watered down their battle against the BSP but have also stopped raising issues concerning the dalits.
The Indian Justice Party, led by former bureaucrat Dr Udit Raj, was one of the major parties to have led the battle against the BSP, in general, and Ms Mayawati, in particular.
The party fought a pitched battle against the BSP in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when its candidate from Jaunpur was found hanging from a tree in the midst of elections.
The candidate’s family claimed it was murder while the police passed it off as a case of suicide.
After this incident, since the past two years, the Indian Justice Party has restricted itself to issuing press statements and holding press conferences but has not sharpened its attack on the ruling BSP.
The Rashtriya Swabhimaan Party, formed by former BSP leader R K Choudhury who also heads the Bahujan Soshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (BS4), has also failed to sustain its attack on chief minister Mayawati.
“It is a lack of resources that hampers our growth. We are a party of the poor, by the poor and for the poor and, therefore, no rich man gives us contributions. These days, you need money to organise even the smallest of congregations and we do not have the funds,” says a BS4 leader.
The Apna Dal that was founded by another former BSP leader Dr Sonelal Patel, has also petered out after the latter’s death in 2009.
The party that once threatened to emerge as a viable political alternative in Uttar Pradesh, now works mostly through emails that bring press statements to media persons.