BSP bid to woo OBCs to regain lost ground ahead of 2027 polls in U.P.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has launched an outreach programme to mobilise support from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in a bid to regain lost ground in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
BSP state unit president Vishwanath Pal said the party is organising OBC cadre camps in all 403 assembly constituencies across U.P, aiming to win back the support of backward communities that have been the backbone of the party since its inception in 1984.
Party leaders and office-bearers have been directed to hold cadre camps in rural areas of each constituency. The district and assembly unit functionaries will reach out to OBC voters and apprise them of the welfare schemes launched by the previous BSP governments, Pal said.
He added that the party would also inform OBCs about its future plans for their empowerment if it forms the government in 2027. The progress of these cadre camps will be reviewed monthly at the party's state headquarters.
Members of backward communities, including Kurmi, Maurya, Kushwaha, Rajbhar, Pal, Nishad, Nai, Noniya, Bind, Mallah, Gujjar, and Prajapati, have been inducted into the camps. The BSP has also reactivated its 'bhai-chara' committees comprising members of various OBC groups, to consolidate its base among these voters.
After losing power in the 2012 assembly elections, BSP president Mayawati attempted to woo Muslim voters. Community leaders were made zonal and divisional coordinators, and Muslim candidates received a lion's share of tickets in the 2014, 2019, and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as well as in the 2017 and 2022 assembly polls. However, the BSP candidates lost in Muslim-dominated constituencies.
Following its defeat in the 2022 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati blamed the Muslim community for the party's dismal performance, stating that they preferred the Samajwadi Party and the Congress to the BSP. Mayawati has now instructed the party to refocus on backward communities.
According to Vivek Kumar, a political observer, BSP founder Kanshi Ram worked on the Dalit- OBC formula to spread the Bahujan movement in U.P. The message was that Dalit-OBC could grab power. He got the support of the Kurmi community that was at loggerheads with the Yadavs.
Kurmi leaders like Jang Bahadur Patel, Sone Lal Patel, Barkhu Ram Verma, and Lalji Verma joined the BSP, as did Rajbhar leaders like Sukhdev Rajbhar, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Ramachal Rajbhar. Noniya leader Dara Singh Chauhan as well as leaders from Maurya, Kushwaha, Nishad, Nai and Bind communities also came to the party fold, Kumar noted.
'Later, Sone Lal Patel launched Apna Dal and Om Prakash Rajbhar launched the SBSP, but the BSP's hold over the backward communities continued. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP projected Narendra Modi as the backward face of the party and worked on the rainbow coalition of upper castes, OBCs and Dalits to break into the BSP's support base. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the SP played the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) card to win over non-Yadav backward communities,' Kumar said.
The shift of the OBCs towards the BJP and SP has led to the weakening of the BSP and its defeats in successive elections. To regain the lost base, the BSP leadership is now working to woo the OBCs by organising cadre camps, he added.
SK Srivastava, another political analyst, recalled that Kanshi Ram launched the All-India SC, ST, OBC and Minority Employees Association (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS4) in 1981 to mobilise support from the SC/ST, OBC and minority communities. In 1984, he floated the BSP to grab political power. The BSP will have to win the support of OBCs to regain its lost ground in U.P, he added.
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