Mayawati steps out of her ivory tower

Lucknow: Necessity may be the mother of invention but in Uttar Pradesh, it is defeat that is emerging as the father of change. The iron-walled Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is now undergoing a complete makeover after facing cruel defeats in Lok Sabha and then Assembly elections.

The iron curtain is slowly melting away and the party is slowly opening its doors to the outside world. BSP president Mayawati has started stepping out of her ivory tower which is something she has never done she first became chief minister in June 1995.

A week ago, Ms Mayawati travelled by car — another new development — to Saharanpur to meet the riot victims. Accompanied by her nephew Akash, she even stopped on the way and tried to stand on the foot-rest of the car to wave out to people.

For Ms Mayawati, who is known to be paranoid about her security and safety, it was even blasphemous to even suggest such a gesture till about a month ago.

“We could never even suggest this to Behenji because she is has a strong fixation about hygiene and security. We were rather shocked when we learnt that she had stopped her car on way to Saharanpur and actually came out to wave to people,” said a close aide of the BSP president.

A newly-elected BSP MLA said that contrary to reports, he was rather surprised to find Ms Mayawati talking to them in a lighter vein.

“We never thought she would smile while talking to us but she did. Even encouraged us to remain active despite being short on numbers (the BSP has merely 19 MLAs in the UP Assembly which has a strength of 403 members),” he said.

In another first, the BSP has appointed officials spokespersons — retired IAS officer Fateh Bahadur and Faizan — to interact with the media.

Till now, the BSP was the only party, perhaps. in the country that did not have an official spokesperson and interaction with the media was restricted to press conferences addressed by either Ms Mayawati or Mr Satish Chandra Misra. Both the leaders did not entertain any questions and struck to the prepared draft which was read out. Though it has been a fortnight since the new spokespersons were appointed, they are still not used to the idea of taking calls from mediapersons and most queries on WhatsApp still do not get replied to.

Dalit writer Shri Prakash, who has been closely following Ms Mayawati’s ascent to power, explained, “After the infamous state guest house incident in June 1995 during which she was almost kidnapped by Samajwadi leaders, it is natural for any woman to be paranoid about her security. Moreover, she had a coterie is party leaders who fuelled her fears so that they could block workers’ access to her. Now that most of them are out of the party and the BSP has faced its worst defeat, she is beginning to see reason”.

He said that if Ms Mayawati made herself directly accessible to party workers and started moving out of her home, she would get connected to ground realities in the state. “There is no reason why the BSP cannot bounce back if she changes her work culture,” he added. Her detractors, however, feel that the changes are “cosmetic” in nature

“You think she will change the basics in her party? You think she will stop taking money for tickets reach out to the poorest of the poor who form the core vote of the party? Unless she does this, the BSP cannot hope for revival,” said one who has lost the elections.