Bahujan Samaj Party president and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati, while instructing party officials to connect Dalits and Other Backward Classes to the party, said on Tuesday that getting the master key of power was the only option to bring ‘good days’ for the Bahujans.

Addressing a special state-level meeting of BSP’s Other Backward Classes office-bearers here, Mayawati said that people from Bahujan samaj, especially the OBCs. were victims of inferior, casteist and narrow politics and were deprived of the constitutional benefits of reservation in the same way as reservation for Dalits had been made almost ineffective by binding them in various new rules and laws.

She said that to get rid of humiliation, a new vigorous campaign should be started to further strengthen the resolve to get the master key of power by organising all the parts of Bahujan samaj on the basis of mutual brotherhood and creating political power.

She said, “People in every village should be made aware of the anti-Dalit and anti-OBC tactics, character and face of the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party. The only better option for the Bahujans to bring about their good days is to defeat casteist parties like BJP, Congress, SP and others and obtain the master key to political power.”

Mayawati claimed that the work done by the BSP at the party and government levels to get the constitutional right of reservation for the OBC community, who were always isolated and scattered, by implementing the Mandal Commission recommendations and to make them stand on their own feet, had given new power and strength to the ‘social change and economic liberation’ movement in the country.

Mayawati accused the rival parties of uniting in a conspiracy to oust the BSP from power and said, “After the BSP was ousted from power in Uttar Pradesh in 2012 due to the internal and open conspiracies of casteist parties, the condition of these classes is continuously worsening due to the coming to power of these anti-Dalit and anti-OBC forces.”

In the meeting, Mayawati mentioned in detail the development works done during her tenures. She said that her government had written a letter to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2011, demanding caste-based census for the uplift of OBC classes. She said the objective was that the OBC community could get its constitutional rights and the fair benefit of government schemes.

Mayawati said, “With the evil intention of thwarting the BSP’s campaign to unite crores of deprived people of the Bahujan Samaj who were divided, and to divide their voting power in the elections, the anti-BSP parties adopted many disgusting tactics and formed small parties and organisations of various castes.”

She alleged that some leaders of such organisations fulfill their personal and family interests but their communities do not get any real benefit. She said that, on the other hand, the interest of their entire society remains safe when they work under the banner of BSP. 

She alleged, “Congress, BJP and SP are all birds of the same feather in the Bahujan Samaj, whose sweet talks, alluring deceptions, promises and claims will never do any real good to the Dalit and OBCs. The sooner we understand this and become capable of saving ourselves, the better it is.”

Mayawati instructed the party office-bearers to organise seminars at the district level across the country on April 14, to celebrate the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. She said tributes would be paid to Dr Ambedkar by garlanding his statues in Lucknow and Noida.

Meanwhile, Mayawati also took several decisions to strengthen the party organisation before the assembly elections in UP.  Like BJP, Congress who announced lists of district and city unit chiefs, the BSP has also selected leaders to head the district units of the party. The party is also giving priority to the youth and re-establishing the post of advisor in the party. According to sources, the post of advisor that existed during the time of party founder Kanshi Ram is being re-established. Experienced leaders will be posted in the districts as advisors.

A new list of district presidents of Lucknow division has been released which includes names of Shailendra Gautam (Lucknow), Rajesh Kumar Fauji (Rae Bareli), Dinesh Gautam (Unnao), Suresh Chaudhary (Hardoi), Vipin Kumar Gautam (Lakhimpur Kheri) and Vikas Rajvanshi (Sitapur). New conveners of ‘Bhaichara Sangathan’ have been appointed and they will work to increase the mass base of the party.

It may be mentioned that after expelling her nephew Akash Anand and his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth from the party, Mayawati has directly taken over the command of the organisation. She has made it clear that only hardworking workers will be promoted in the party and there will be no successor until she is alive. After losing power in 2012, the brotherhood committees of BSP were almost disbanded. Now these committees are being reactivated so that the party’s reach among the backward classes, especially the OBCs, can be strengthened. Mayawati’s goal is to take the backward classes along with the Dalits with her.