Is BSP leader Pathak’s entry into BJP really a setback for Mayawati?

Is the entry of Bahujan Samaj Party MP Brajesh Pathak into the Bharatiya Janata Party a jolt for Mayawati? Or is it a sign that BJP president Amit Shah is rattled by the prospect of losing the Brahmin vote to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress?

On the face of it, for a party that considers upper castes as its core vote base, the induction of a Brahmin leader – that, too, with a tainted background and rather local appeal – does not make sense. Yet this was done on Monday when, merely a day after Mayawati’s massive rally at Agra, Pathak joined the party in the presence of the BJP president.

“Pathak was in touch with the BJP leadership for quite some time,” said a senior BJP leader. “But his case was put on hold as there were voices against the import of leaders from rival organisations just ahead of the Assembly elections."

This rift surfaced on the concluding day of the BJP’s state executive meet in Jhansi on August 7, when the dissenting voices were aired by Shiv Prakash, the party’s joint general secretary in charge of the organisation.

A counter-argument was presented in the meeting by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who welcomed leaders who wanted to join the BJP. “No one is untouchable for the party, and those joining it are welcome,” he told the BJP’s state executive merely hours after Shiv Prakash underscored the need to rely on the party’s internal crop of leaders in the upcoming electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh.

Losing his magic

“The difference of opinion led to a general consensus that fresh induction would be allowed only if that adds significantly to prospects of the party in the Assembly elections or inflicts considerable damage to its rivals,” said a BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh. “Pathak does not fit in either of the two categories. To consolidate upper castes, we certainly don’t need a leader from the BSP.”

To many, Pathak's entry into the BJP isn't being seen as a setback to Mayawati as much as an indication of Amit Shah's increasing inability to pull off his old electoral magic.

That may have been the reason why Shah sat silently all through the induction of Pathak in front of a small group of journalists at the BJP headquarters in Delhi. The party president, in fact, did not respond to a single question. All the talking was done by the former BSP leader, who said that he had been in touch with the BJP brass for quite some time.

Brahmins constitute nearly 60% of the upper castes of Uttar Pradesh and are believed to have voted en-bloc for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The importance of a Brahmin face from the Bahujan Samaj party shows that the BJP can no longer assume the support of this significant caste as it sets out to face the Assembly polls due in early next year.

Mayawati with her “Sarvajan Hitaya, Sarvajan Sukhaya” slogan ("for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many") and the Congress with Sheila Dikshit, a Brahmin, as its chief ministerial face, have started creating waves among the caste group in UP. It remains to be seen whether Amit Shah is able to counter this by inducting Pathak into the BJP.