It’s deja vu all over again in the Bahujan Samaj Party. The party chairperson, Mayawati, recently elevated a personal aide at her Delhi residence to the position of party national general secretary, leaving other BSP leaders to nurse a sense of helplessness. They had felt similarly powerless seven years ago, when Mayawati had unilaterally made the little-known Raja Ram vice-president without consulting party colleagues.
“In 2008, she handpicked Raja Ram, who was simply her personal aide, and made him the party’s national vice-president,” a senior BSP leader said. “Last year, she made another aide the party general secretary. This only shows that Mayawati has refused to grow. She hardly trusts any leader.”
The senior BSP leader protested that Mayawati never announces any internal appointments to party colleagues. “Even in this latest case, you won’t find a single BSP leader whom Behenji (Mayawati) might have consulted when deciding to make Manoj Kumar the BSP general secretary.”
Unknown successor
Such surprises have come along periodically. In 2008, party leaders were shocked when they learnt through news reports that Mayawati had made an unknown face the BSP vice-president. It all started when Mayawati declared in a public speech at Lucknow in August 2008 that she had chosen a successor. In the speech, she dropped hints about the identity of the chosen one but did not go beyond that.
“I have chosen my successor but I won’t disclose the name,” she announced. “The person is 18 years younger to me and is a Dalit. The name will be disclosed only once I am dead. Apart from me, only two other people know the name.” She revealed that her handpicked successor was not from her family or party founder Kanshi Ram’s family, but belonged to the Jatav caste.
Soon after, the media revealed Raja Ram's name, and that he had already been made national vice-president. Few party leaders had even heard of Raja Ram until then. If that media revelation was not surprising enough, they got another jolt 24 hours later when the BSP sent out a press release replacing Raja Ram with another largely unknown politician, Alok Kumar Verma. In the list of office-bearers sent to the Election Commission, however, the party didn't mention Verma’s name.
Personal fief
Raja Ram still remains the party’s vice president. In November 2014, the BSP re-nominated him as Rajya Sabha member. Till this day, he maintains an unnaturally low profile and keeps away from the media. In the Upper House of Parliament, which he attends regularly, he prefers to remain a silent observer. As per House records, he has never participated in Question Hour, nor made any “special mention”, let alone move a Private Member’s Bill.
The strange case of Raja Ram repeated in 2012, when Mayawati inducted with equal brazenness yet another personal aide, R Sridhar, as one of the BSP national secretaries. This induction went unnoticed in the tumult of the party’s defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. It did, however, trigger outrage among a section of the top brass against Mayawati’s predilection to treat BSP as her fief and heightened the perception that she had deviated from the political programme laid down by Kanshi Ram.
“Mayawati is acutely conscious that most party leaders doubt her ability to complete Kanshi Ram’s unfinished agenda,” said former BSP leader and former parliamentarian Pramod Kureel. Kureel was among those who left the party in 2012 and launched the “National Campaign to Save Bahujan Movement”, a platform that has grown in strength over the years and attracted a good number of Dalit activists getting disillusioned with Mayawati.
“It is her habit not to trust even her shadow,” Kureel said, adding that many party men have simply thrown up their hands and turned politically dormant “because Mayawati has failed to understand that Bahujan Samaj is greater than her”.
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“In 2008, she handpicked Raja Ram, who was simply her personal aide, and made him the party’s national vice-president,” a senior BSP leader said. “Last year, she made another aide the party general secretary. This only shows that Mayawati has refused to grow. She hardly trusts any leader.”
The senior BSP leader protested that Mayawati never announces any internal appointments to party colleagues. “Even in this latest case, you won’t find a single BSP leader whom Behenji (Mayawati) might have consulted when deciding to make Manoj Kumar the BSP general secretary.”
Unknown successor
Such surprises have come along periodically. In 2008, party leaders were shocked when they learnt through news reports that Mayawati had made an unknown face the BSP vice-president. It all started when Mayawati declared in a public speech at Lucknow in August 2008 that she had chosen a successor. In the speech, she dropped hints about the identity of the chosen one but did not go beyond that.
“I have chosen my successor but I won’t disclose the name,” she announced. “The person is 18 years younger to me and is a Dalit. The name will be disclosed only once I am dead. Apart from me, only two other people know the name.” She revealed that her handpicked successor was not from her family or party founder Kanshi Ram’s family, but belonged to the Jatav caste.
Soon after, the media revealed Raja Ram's name, and that he had already been made national vice-president. Few party leaders had even heard of Raja Ram until then. If that media revelation was not surprising enough, they got another jolt 24 hours later when the BSP sent out a press release replacing Raja Ram with another largely unknown politician, Alok Kumar Verma. In the list of office-bearers sent to the Election Commission, however, the party didn't mention Verma’s name.
Personal fief
Raja Ram still remains the party’s vice president. In November 2014, the BSP re-nominated him as Rajya Sabha member. Till this day, he maintains an unnaturally low profile and keeps away from the media. In the Upper House of Parliament, which he attends regularly, he prefers to remain a silent observer. As per House records, he has never participated in Question Hour, nor made any “special mention”, let alone move a Private Member’s Bill.
The strange case of Raja Ram repeated in 2012, when Mayawati inducted with equal brazenness yet another personal aide, R Sridhar, as one of the BSP national secretaries. This induction went unnoticed in the tumult of the party’s defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. It did, however, trigger outrage among a section of the top brass against Mayawati’s predilection to treat BSP as her fief and heightened the perception that she had deviated from the political programme laid down by Kanshi Ram.
“Mayawati is acutely conscious that most party leaders doubt her ability to complete Kanshi Ram’s unfinished agenda,” said former BSP leader and former parliamentarian Pramod Kureel. Kureel was among those who left the party in 2012 and launched the “National Campaign to Save Bahujan Movement”, a platform that has grown in strength over the years and attracted a good number of Dalit activists getting disillusioned with Mayawati.
“It is her habit not to trust even her shadow,” Kureel said, adding that many party men have simply thrown up their hands and turned politically dormant “because Mayawati has failed to understand that Bahujan Samaj is greater than her”.
