Electoral losses have put BSP chief on backfoot
Desperate to quickly fix responsibility for the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) defeat in the recently held Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, party supremo sacked her trusted aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui. But the decision is unlikely to satisfy those who believe that Siddiqui has been made a scapegoat. It's true that he was the Muslim face of the BSP and many of the 100 odd Muslim candidates who contested the Assembly poll had been handpicked by him — of which fewer than 10 won. It's also true that Siddiqui was in charge of the BSP's campaign in western Uttar Pradesh where the party fared miserably. But then the BSP had done worse in the 2014 lok Sabha election, unable to win even one out of the 80 seats on offer from the State — and no action had then been taken against either Siddiqui or any other senior leader who could have been held accountable. Mayawati realised that holding others responsible for the defeats would not wash with either the cadre or the voters, since she herself led the party campaign from the front and could not escape being answerable. Therefore, she has used the pretext of Siddiqui's irregular conduct — demanding money from party workers for favours and tickets and operating illegal slaughterhouses — to oust him from the BSP. But here too, the realisation appears to have dawned rather late in the day. Siddiqui has held this dubious reputation for long and his questionable methods have been known not only to the party workers but the public of Uttar Pradesh for years. Yet, Mayawati had promoted him in the party hierarchy. Indeed, besides Satish Chandra Mishra, the party’s Brahmin face, he was the BSP supremo's only other close associate outside of her family.
It cannot be believed that Mayawati had for all these years neither heard of his wrongdoing nor received complaints from party leaders and supporters against him. But she used him as a rallying point for her pro-Muslim thrust through which she had hoped to dent her arch rival, the Samajwadi Party's prospects. His sacking — though few tears will be shed on the development — therefore, has been indulged in with a view to make a virtue out of necessity. There is no denying that Siddiqui has had a dubious reputation. The allegations that he has now sought to level against his former boss of taking money and operating an ‘extortion racket' need not be taken at face value. After all, he had had no issues with all of this until before he was shown the door.
Due to his proximity to Mayawati and his effective use of this advantage, he managed to build a strong network of loyalists within the party who owe their positions to him as much as they do to the BSP chief. This is the reason why his ouster has led to a spate of resignations, with a clutch of former legislators quitting the party. They may not be high-profile names but they do matter in their respective constituencies. His departure could set the BSP's outreach to the Muslim community back by a few paces and put paid to the party's hopes of stitching a Scheduled Caste-Muslim coalition by taking advantage of the crisis in the Samajwadi party — the other regional outfit that still commands the majority support of the Muslim community in the State.