One of the remarkable differences between the activists and supporters of the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have been the former's boisterous slogan shouting behaviour in sharp contrast to the quiet, disciplined almost subdued conduct of the latter. This has been evident in recent campaign rallies for this year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, but has also been true over nearly three decades ever since the BSP — then led by its founder Kanshi Ram in alliance with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav — scored a historic victory over the BJP in 1993.
In fact, in the massive victory rally jointly held by the two leaders in December 1993 at the state capital Lucknow to celebrate their incredible triumph over the saffron party despite the Hindutva wave unleashed across the state by the demolition of the Babri Masjid a year ago, the contrast between the crowds belonging to the two parties was palpable.
In my book Behenji I wrote, "The several hundred thousands who attended came in two groups. One, supporting Mulayam Singh, was rowdy and full of swagger. The Samajwadi Party leader himself had to shriek at a particularly boisterous section and tell them to stop dancing and sit down when Kanshi Ram rose to speak. The second group, the BSP congregation, huddled together silently. Many were barefoot and not equipped for the Lucknow winter. For most of them it was their first trip to a big city like the state-capital. Yet even if they were overawed by the occasion, their eyes glinted with the jubilation of a Dalit victory."
Since then both parties have seen many political ups and downs but the distinct behaviour of their cadre and supporters have held true to form. In the many state Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls held in Uttar Pradesh since 1993 journalists covering them have been struck particularly by the control and order maintained by BSP cadre at their meetings with crowds even when large were made to sit down in neat rows and remain silent particularly when Mayawati was speaking. Behenji herself, regardless of her swinging electoral fortunes from poll to poll, rarely encouraged slogan shouting or loud applause while she was speaking and the atmosphere of her meetings are usually akin to a classroom with a particularly strict teacher delivering a lecture demanding the full attention of her students.
Nothing could be more dissimilar to Samajwadi Party meetings which have traditionally remained rowdy with people dancing, shouting slogans and sometimes even fighting between each other. Leaders at these meetings enjoy whipping up crowd sentiments with a great deal of rhetorical flourish and although Netaji as Mulayam Singh Yadav is called by his supporters nor his son and political heir Akhilesh are not particularly eloquent speakers this does not stop lesser leaders and workers of the party constantly encouraging their congregation to scream their support or wave their hands.
Interestingly, in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll when a beleaguered Mayawati and an equally desperate Akhilesh joined hands in a last-ditch effort to stop the Modi juggernaut often holding joint rallies, the divergent behaviour of their respective congregations did raise problems. At one such rally in Firozabad, Behenji got particularly annoyed at the Samajwadi section of the crowd raising slogans while she was speaking. "The way you people shout in the middle of a speech. I think you should learn something from the Bahujan Samaj Party workers. The Samajwadi workers have a lot to learn," she admonished.
There are several reasons why the cadre and supporters of the two parties act so differently at election meetings. The BSP, for instance, was crafted first by Kanshi Ram and even more so by Mayawati who took over the leadership more than one and a half decades ago to win political power incrementally through vote accumulation and not through agitations or street demonstrations. Depending on select Dalit coordinators geared to push the party through election after election without the promise of even a candidacy or leadership slot the BSP works on a fundamentally different dynamic than the Samajwadi Party or any other political party for that matter.
The Samajwadi Party is exactly the opposite. It comes from a volatile socialistic tradition where every worker thought he could be a leader. There has been little attempt by the Yadav clan to instill discipline in the cadre which is vast but quite heterogeneous. Although Mulayam Singh ran a tight ship when he was in his prime there was little attempt to curb his followers as long as it did not seriously harm his own political interest. Akhilesh is far milder than his father and while he himself is personable and well behaved this cannot be said of many of his party leaders and workers who swagger around.
There is also a crucial difference in the social composition of the BSP’s core support base and that of the Samajwadi Party. The Dalits particularly the Jatavs who form the main vote bank of Mayawati herself from the same sub-caste are by nature not prone to rowdy or violent behaviour. After all, having been at the bottom of the social ladder oppressed through centuries, many are scared of letting their emotions show even though the anger burns deep inside. While a younger radicalised generation of Jatavs led by leaders like Chandrasekhar Azad is openly confrontationist, a bulk of the over 40s in the community are prone to trust the low-key approach of the BSP leadership.
The main support base of the Samajwadi Party on the other hand are Yadavs, known for their muscular ways and the other group strongly advocating the party are Muslims, who too are passionate and volatile even though now under tremendous pressure from the BJP government.
A fair share of criminal mafia bosses has also over the decades been connected to the party. It is not surprising, therefore, that the bluster and swagger of Samajwadi cadres have official sanction of the party leadership.
Finally, neither the disciplined and low-key approach of the BSP cadre, nor the boisterous conduct of their counterparts in the Samajwadi Party is key to their electoral fortunes that have wildly fluctuated over the past several decades.
The writer is a Delhi-based political analyst and a Mayawati biographer. Views expressed are personal.
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March 04, 2022 at 04:00PM
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