Kanshi’s Vaulting Ambition

IS Kanshi Ram’s ego getting in the way of his party’s natural growth? In Uttar Pradesh, his rigid stand on championing Mayawati’s cause led to a constitutional deadlock. In home state Punjab (he hails from Hoshiarpur), his refusal to accommodate Congress demands during talks for a tie-up has left the Bahujan Samaj Party with just a lone seat, down from nine in the previous assembly. It polled a dismal 7.5 per cent of the votes.

If it is indeed his complacency that has done Kanshi in, the results can offer him some sobering food for thought. Unlike in Uttar Pradesh, where the BSP won 67 out of 425 seats, the Punjab Dalits are yet to accept the party as their representative. A sample study by the Institute of Development and Communication (I D C) shows that 11 per cent of the Hindu scheduled castes, and 23 per cent of the Sikh Dalits voted for the Akali Dal. These are votes the BSP thought it had exclusive rights on.

It was perhaps this hope of Dalit consolidation behind him that spurred Kanshi to open parallel negotiations with the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Akali Dal (Mann). A miscalculation, just like in Uttar Pradesh, where his hobnobbing with both the Congress and the BJP affected his credibility as a reliable ally.

The Congress had agreed to part with 25 seats, but the BSP insisted on 45. When the Congress refused to submit to its exaggerated claim, the BSP joined hands in despair with the Mann faction, which was totally cut off from the Sikh mainstream. The BSP ally also ended up with just one seat.

"The basic miscalculation on the BSP’s part was that it failed to see the reality. In Punjab, it has no future as an independent political entity. At best, it can be an ally of one of the key parties," says Pramod Kumar of the IDC.

The BSP does not accept this theory. "In fact, there was a largescale switch by Congress workers to the BJP in the last minute because of the party’s decline. In the process, we could not benefit out of the Congress defeat," says Singhara Ram, the only winner from the BSP. "But the very fact that the Congress has suffered almost an irreversible defeat means we have a future. They need us tomorrow if they are serious about fighting the Akali-BJP combination." Prophetic words?