Shamli: On an autumn afternoon in October, the Chamar community of Vikkamajra had gathered to listen to what a few Samajwadi Party leaders had to say. Vikkamajra is a village in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. The Chamar community here had been loyal supporters of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party for years, but with its waning strength, is now open to weighing other political options.“Behenji (Mayawati) has forgotten her loyal supporters. There is no house here where she has not had food. But now, it seems she has deserted us. Neither she nor her leaders come to visit us,” Satyawan, a member of the community, says. Resentment against the BSP appeared to be widespread. For over two decades, the community had given unflinching support to Mayawati, but not anymore. “There was a time when we didn’t even welcome leaders of other parties in our colonies, but unemployment, back-breaking price rise, and a threat to the reservation system in current times have forced us to listen to what other leaders have to say,” says Satyawan.“We haven’t decided anything yet. But we are weighing our options. The party best placed to defeat the BJP will have our votes,” he adds. Like Satyawan, almost all members of the Chamar community in Vikkamajra and adjoining villages, were highly critical of the BJP regime. “We haven’t seen such mahangai (inflation) ever in our lives. There is no employment for our youth. In fact, government jobs for our community have significantly decreased,” said Salekh Chand of Khatoli village. Also Read: In Yogi’s Gorakhpur, an Ambedkarite Outfit Speaking for Land Rights Faces State CrackdownAlmost every member of the community complained about the poor job situation for Dalits in Uttar Pradesh. “Earlier, the reservation system allowed many from our community to secure Group C and D jobs in the state government. Most of those jobs are now outsourced to private entities by the state government. We believe that such outsourcing is an indirect way to end the reservation system,” says Salekh Chand. The outsourcing of jobs has led to significant disillusionment. “The permanent jobs in the government, even in Groups C and D, would guarantee a salaried income of around Rs 25,000 per month. However, the private contractors give us only around Rs 8,000 per month. How do you expect us to live a decent life amidst such mahangai,” asks Satyawan. Rakesh, a 21-year-old in Khatoli, says, “Even the schools and hospitals are in bad shape. The buildings look quite beautiful from the outside with a new coat of paint. But the schools do not have enough teachers, the hospitals do not have enough doctors or para-medical staff. The schools are there only to serve mid-day meals.”Everyone at the gathering also complained about high electricity bills under the BJP. “Both Akhilesh and Behenji gave us a lot of welfare benefits. Our electricity bills were considerably lower during their tenures. But with Yogi Adityanath, our living costs have skyrocketed. In a few months, we may all be on the verge of starvation,” says Rakesh. The Chamar community of Khatoli. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad MahaprashastaAn elderly man, Puran, joined in. “There are many such problems now. But on the whole, it can be said that this government has only taken from us, while the others also gave something in return.”“It is not just us (Chamars) but also communities like Kashyaps (an OBC community) and Valmikis (another Dalit community), who are known to be loyal to the BJP, are suffering. Valmikis have stopped getting permanent safai karamachari jobs, while Kashyaps who run Kolhus (small-scale jaggery making units) in the region are reeling under the pressure of high electricity bills,” Puran says.That the Chamar community will vote against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls appears to be clear. But which way will they swing seems to be undecided, as the BSP’s appeal is clearly dwindling.The opportunity has seen parties like the SP, Congress and BJP reach out to the Dalits of Shamli. SP is the first to address the concerns of Chamars living in Vikkamajra.Among the leaders who addressed the meeting was Sudhir Panwar, a Lucknow University professor and SP leader belonging to the Jat community. Panwar had unsuccessfully contested the state assembly polls from the Thana Bhawan constituency in 2017 and has since then been active in expanding the SP voter base among Dalits in the locality. “We haven’t come to seek votes. The 2024 elections are still six months away. We have come to tell you that our leader Akhilesh Yadav has given the call to unite pichda, Dalit, and alpasankhayak (PDA or OBC, Dalit and Bahujan communities) to defeat the BJP. Dalits will have a proportionate share of power in our party,” Panwar told the gathering, as he also let the audience speak about their doubts and problems. Panwar echoed the Dalit sentiment that Mayawati has largely been inactive in taking up the demands of the poor. “Today, her silence on critical issues means only one thing – that she is indirectly supporting the BJP,” Panwar says, as he goes on to name a string of former ground-level BSP leaders in the region who have now joined the SP. Panwar believes that the SP is the only relatable option for the Dalits if they choose to move away from the BSP. “The agrarian crisis over the last few decades has impoverished the agrarian OBC castes like Jats, Yadavs and others. A majority of Dalits in the region prefer private jobs over agricultural labour work. However, even there, wage rates have stagnated over the past decade. Outsourcing of Group C and D government jobs has made them poorer. The traditional conflict between the OBC and Dalits at the village level has diminished greatly now. In such circumstances, the SP can be the only party that can take up the demands of the poor,” Panwar says “The maalik-naukar (owner-servant) relationship between agrarian castes and Dalits has become almost non-existent. Because of that conflictual relationship, Dalits never voted for parties led by agrarian castes like Yadavs or Jats. Initially, Dalits voted for the Congress, and then switched to the BSP, while agrarian castes consolidated behind leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Charan Singh,” Panwar explains. SP leader Sudhir Panwar addresses a small Dalit gathering in Vikkamajra. Photo: Ajoy Ashirwad MahaprashastaOver the last decade, some Dalit groups also experimented with the BJP as the BSP began to decline but, according to Panwar, have begun to realise that non-Brahminical parties like the SP are their best bet in the longer run.“The collapse of the BSP in recent times means that Dalits are losing their voters’ contract with a mainstream political party. That has led to a significant churn among Dalit communities. We in the SP, therefore, are earnestly trying to bring them into our fold,” says Panwar. The SP’s Dalit outreach has systematically increased in recent times. Akhilesh Yadav has surrounded himself with Dalit and non-Yadav OBC leaders on almost every platform. His chief aides are considered to be Awadhesh Prasad, a Pasi Dalit leader, Ram Achal Rajbhar, an OBC Rajbhar leader, and Lalji Verma, a Khushwaha OBC leader.He has also formed a Dalit outreach organisation called Ambedkar Vahini and entrusted its functioning to former BSP leaders who still have their ground-level connections intact. Speaking with The Wire, Ambedkar Vahini president and former BSP leader Mithai Lal Bharati said, “We joined the SP as we felt the BSP had slowed down the Dalit movement in Uttar Pradesh. There was no space for critical feedback in the party. Yet, we felt happy when the BSP and SP came together in 2019. But then Behenji unilaterally decided to break the alliance without any discussion with the party’s district presidents like us.”“But we realised that the BSP could win some Lok Sabha seats only because of its alliance with the SP. But she was ungrateful. She took leaders like us for granted. Both BSP and SP leaders could not stand each other after the 1995 guest house incident. But it was Behenji who bridged that gap by allying with Akhileshji. Then she broke the relationship again, once the workers of both parties had become friendly to each other. She should not have broken that alliance again,” Bharati said.“Despite so much provocation by Behenji, Akhileshji didn’t utter a single word against her. Even the SP workers are welcoming of us,” he said. Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav. Photos: X/@Mayawati, @samajwadipartyBharati said his goal was to form Ambedkar Vahini committees at every booth of UP until the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “We have begun to see some positive results. The bypolls in Ghosi, Khatauli, and Mirzapur Chhanbey saw a significant amount of Dalits voting for the SP or its allies. We plan to capitalise on that. The SP is the natural option for Dalits after the BSP,” he said. Bharati believes that if the SP drives home the PDA message effectively, even those Dalit groups who have voted for the BJP in the last two elections will change their minds. “Dalits have realised that the BJP is a party that prefers the rich over the poor. The tokenisms won’t be enough anymore. Congress is non-existent in UP. The SP, therefore, is a natural social justice party for them,” he said. A number of former BSP ground-level leaders have joined the SP across Uttar Pradesh. However, the SP leaders agree that only if the party is able to entice top-level BSP leaders can it truly tap into the political churn among Dalits and emerge as a force to reckon with. As of now, the SP appears to be clear that only by securing the confidence of Dalits, it can expand its vote share beyond the traditional voter base of OBC and Muslims. Dalits represent the most crucial element of the PDA formula that Akhilesh Yadav speaks about. They remain the only factor that could elevate the party to compete with the formidable BJP, which secured around 50% of the total votes polled in 2019.
