The Rival Armies Of BHIM

Most social movements of the marginalised take the electoral route after gaining some popular acceptance.

- Suryakant Waghmore

While this transition is made to seize power and get justice, party politics also robs social movements of their radicalism, as success in electoral politics demands that competing castes, communities and ideologies be accommodated.

The Bhim Army of Chandrashekhar Azad may be at such a crossroads, deciding whether to take the electoral leap or continue as social radicals. Azad has a formidable ‘opponent’ in Mayawati and the BSP. Like Azad now, Mayawati too had raised the hackles of caste-Hindus in the 1980s with her fiery speeches against Manuwad. Azad is critical of Mayawati’s Sarvajan politics and wants the focus back on the Bahujan. He is aware, however, of Mayawati’s stature among India’s marginalised, and knows it’s not yet time for the political leap. He must, therefore, publicly defer to ‘Bua’ (aunt) Mayawati.

Political analysts and adversaries keep writing off Mayawati, but her BSP continues to be a national entity. Nor is she a stranger to challenges from within the Ambedkarite universe, but she has always tamed competition from within, and kept her party a coherent and dominant force in Ambedkarite politics nationally.