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Bharat Bandh today: After 8-year hiatus, BSP workers to take to streets
The BSP had been restraining its workers from organising demonstrations and dharna when her rival parties—the Samajwadi Party and Congress—had launched agitations on public issues across the state.
Fighting for her party’s survival in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has asked party workers to hit the streets to protest against the Supreme Court’s recent order on the scheduled caste/schedule tribe (SC/ST) reservations.
The BSP had been restraining its workers from organising demonstrations and dharna when her rival parties—the Samajwadi Party and Congress—had launched agitations on public issues across the state.
Clarifying her stand, Mayawati stated that the BSP was a disciplined political party that ran on the ideals of Bhimrao Ambedkar. “Rather than taking to the streets, the party believes in mobilizing the Dalit community to grab power in the elections. A majority of Dalits are poor and they cannot afford fighting court cases lodged by the administration during protest movement,” she said.
Successive defeats in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections as well as the changing political scenario in Uttar Pradesh have forced Mayawati to amend her strategies.
The shift of Dalit votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections had set alarm bells ringing in the ‘jumbo’ (the BSP’s symbol) camp. To regain the hold over its Dalit support base, the BSP has already decided to go full throttle in the upcoming by-elections to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, which is a shift from its strategy to not contest byelections.
After eight years, BSP workers will hit the streets with blue flags across Uttar Pradesh to register protest over the SC order on the SC/ ST reservations. In 2016, BSP workers had staged protests over an outrageous comment by BJP leader Dayashankar Singh against Mayawati. In 2017, Mayawati visited Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur district to meet the Dalits whose houses were set ablaze by upper caste members.
Aarakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti has announced a Bharat Bandh on Wednesay as a nationwide protest to the SC order. Various political parties and social organizations have extended their support to the bandh call.
In a post on X, BSP national coordinator Akash Anand said there was a lot of anger in the SC/ST community against the Supreme Court’s decision on reservation.
“In protest against the decision, our community has called for a Bharat Bandh on August 21. Our society is a peace-loving one... But today our freedom is being attacked,” he noted.
A befitting reply has to be given in a peaceful manner on August 21, he said.
In a separate post, Mayawati said, “The Centre should take action to amend the Constitution to restore the earlier reservation system for SCs-STs against the Supreme Court’s decision of August 1, 2024. These sections have called for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ tomorrow, and appeal to them to conduct it peacefully, without any violence.”
She termed the sub-classifications within SCs and STs by a seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court an emergency for Dalits and tribal communities.
“The central government should put the SC and ST reservation in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution,” she added.
