Telangana polls 2023: Will BSP make a mark or play a Gujarat AAP?
In the absence of an alliance what would be the impact of BSP’s votes is the question being debated in political circles.
Never in the past has the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) been so visible and active in Telangana as it is now. As if it is second to none, the BSP is organising one programme or the other every day in the state.
It has become the second party in the state to name 20 candidates on October 3 after the BRS, which cleared the first list of 115 candidates in August. The BSP has announced it will field candidates in Telangana constituencies (119), ruling out alliance with any party.
Thanks to the leadership of former IPS officer Dr. Repalle Shiva Praveen Kumar, the BSP has not only gotten a new lease of life but has also been successful in acquiring a distinct Telangana character. It is considered the second coming of the party by many, the first being the attempt made by the party’s founder Kanshi Ram in the early 1990s.
What has made the new version of BSP different is the dedicated army of alumni of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions which Praveen Kumar mentored into Centres of Excellence. These youth in thousands have been working among the Dalits ever since he joined the party in 2021.
He is the one of few politicians of Telangana who can speak not only pure Telangana dialect but also English, Hyderabadi Urdu, and Hindi. All these features have made him a cult figure among the youth of weaker sections, especially Dalits. Analysts opine that Praveen Kumar’s leadership is certain to attract votes from these sections significantly. Added to this is that he is able to bridge the gulf between Malas and Madigas of Dalits to a larger extent.
BSP makes its presence felt
His fight against the recent question paper leak by the Telangana Public Service Commission with crucial information was legendary. By participating in many agitations of youths, students, and farmers, he made the BSP a party that can no longer be ignored.
The BSP’s presence in the fray is bound to alter the outcome of the election, said Dr J Suresh, a political analyst. “Praveen Kumar is providing a new style of leadership to the BSP which is bound to convince voters from weaker sections to favour the party. The graph of BSP is on the rise in the state,” said the associate professor of Prof Jayasankar Telangana Agricultural University, Hyderabad.
Citing the case of the recent Munugode byelection in which the BSP candidate polled 4,035 votes, he said this figure was enough to alter the fate of 15 to 20 candidates. In the 2018 election, many candidates lost with fewer than 1,000 to 5,000 votes in 2018. “BSP secured more than 4,000 votes in an election which was fought ferociously by BRS, BJP and the Congress. It is a significant improvement compared to the 1,000 votes in the 2014 and 2018 elections,” Suresh said. He added that the present BSP was totally different from its earlier version.
Failed attempt
Following the success of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh in 1993, BSP patriarch Kanshi Ram had set his eyes on Andhra Pradesh where Dalit mobilization, triggered by the massacres of Karamchedu and Chunduru, was at its peak.
Many activists, intellectuals and former Naxalite leaders gravitated towards BSP before the 1994 Andhra Assembly election. However, all the BSP candidates forfeited deposits, proving the Telugu regions to be unamenable for the party. Now, in Telangana, with the arrival of Praveen Kumar, the BSP is again making waves.
Praveen Kumar is considered a serious leader by many youths among the weaker sections. Unlike his Karnataka counterpart, Annamalai Kuppuswamy, a Karnataka cadre IPS officer from Tamil Nadu, who joined the BJP after quitting his career, Praveen Kumar (1995 IPS), after taking voluntary retirement, chose a party rejected by Telugus. His popular appeal as a super cop and later as the mentor of the Telangana Social Welfare Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) has enhanced the party’s acceptability among the youth.
No alliance
Praveen Kumar said there would be no truck with any political party. “We don’t join hands either with Congress or BJP as per our party’s national policy. We will field candidates in all 119 constituencies. We will ally with other parties only when they support our agenda which includes one-acre land for landless farmers, pattas to assigned lands, reservations in government contracts and private sector,” he said.
In the absence of an alliance what would be the impact of BSP’s votes is the question being debated in political circles. An analyst who doesn’t want to be quoted said that if there was no alliance, the BSP might end up playing the AAP of Gujarat. “In the 2022 Gujarat elections, the Aam Aadmi Party made a dent in the Congress vote share, indirectly helping the BJP to emerge stronger and victorious. The BSP playing an AAP cannot be ruled out in Telangana If it wants to go it alone,” he said.
