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Hindustan Times
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Efforts to counter SP's PDA: BSP starts increasing Muslim focus in party organisation
With a view to countering Samajwadi Party's PDA (Picchda, Dalit and Alpshanyak) pitch, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has starting increasing the representation of Muslims, Other Backward Class (OBC) along with Dalit communities in the run-up to the 2027 UP assembly polls. Recently, BSP top brass appointed two coordinators each in eight assembly constituencies of Lucknow. (For Representation) Recently, party's top leadership appointed two coordinators each in eight assembly constituencies of the state capital. Notably, nearly 50% of the coordinators appointed are from the Muslim community. And one Muslim each has been made coordinators in all eight assembly constituencies. 'The BSP's move to appoint Muslims to key positions in the party organisation is seen as an effort to increase the party's appeal to the Muslim vote bank and counter the SP's move to target their Dalit and Picchda votes,' said a senior party functionary. 'The party has been working on the same lines for the past several months. There is no new thing to ensure representation of Muslim community in the party organisation,' BSP state unit chief Vishwanath Pal said. 'The BSP is witnessing a significant influx of Muslim community members across the state. In numerous districts, hundreds of Muslim youth, seniors and women are enrolling in the party. Notably, there has been a surge in defections from the SP and the BJP to the BSP,' he claimed. Pal has been actively campaigning in various districts, including Barabanki and Shravasti, and has successfully inducted many Muslims into the party. Another senior BSP functionary said the party had earlier formed the Pichhda Dalit Bhaichara Committee to reach out to the OBC community. He said the party is now making a concerted effort to reach out to Muslims. 'Behan ji (BSP national president Mayawati) had earlier directed to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. She had announced plans to reconstitute Bhaichara (brotherhood) committees to connect with Muslims and Brahmins along with Dalits and OBCs during the party meeting on September 16, 2024. In addition, she had asked to form Muslim and Brahmin brotherhood committees in each district to connect with people of these communities,' he said while explaining the party's plan to regain its vote bank. He further said the party has been actively engaging with Muslim intellectuals, clerics and scholars in Lucknow, with meetings being held under the leadership of Sarwar Malik, advisor to the party's Lucknow unit, for quite some time. The BSP's efforts to increase the participation of OBC, Dalit, and Muslim communities in the party organisation are seen as a strategic move to strengthen its base in the state before the 2027 UP assembly polls following the party's poor performance in recent assembly as well as parliamentary elections. BSP has appointed the following coordinators for eight assembly constituencies of Lucknow: BKT: Imamuddin and advocate Amit Gautam Sarojini Nagar: Javed Siddiqui and Ajay Kirti Lucknow East: Mohammad Anish and advocate Rameshwar Dayal Lucknow West: Dr Ziaul Haq Khan and Sajjan Lal Gautam Malihabad: Arshi Ahmad and Yashpal Verma Lucknow Central: Kamrul Hasan and Rajesh Gautam Lucknow Cantonment: Mohammad Haseeb and Devesh Kumar Gautam Mohanlalganj: Asif Mohammad and Kanhaiya Lal Rawat
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
BSP to discuss steps for OBC outreach today
Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party will hold a meeting of the newly constituted OBC Morcha of its state unit on Tuesday. The OBC Morcha was formed on March 25, when party national president Mayawati issued instructions to the cadre on how to reach out to OBCs in the state to bring them back to the party fold. In the upcoming meeting, UP state president Vishwanath Pal and other senior functionaries will review the action taken on the instructions of the party president. OBCs, along with Dalits, were once the vote base of the BSP. Many OBC leaders in the state, who now have their own political outfits, were once with the BSP, said sources in the party. To win over OBCs, BSP has started putting functionaries from the backward castes in key roles at the district, sector, and booth-level organisation. They have been instructed to reach out to OBCs in villages and towns and expose the anti-OBC agenda of the BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party. They will also highlight the steps taken by BSP govts in UP for the welfare of OBCs, such as constituting a separate department for the welfare of backward classes in the state in 1995 and creating two new districts, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Nagar and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, in 1997. Mayawati, in the March 25 meeting, asked the cadre to inform the OBCs about the welfare and development schemes initiated for them by the BSP, besides building of memorials, parks, and institutions to immortalise their icons. "Village-level meetings have started and OBCs, along with Dalits, have been made in-charge at every assembly segment to hold these programmes regularly," a party functionary said.
Time of India
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
BSP to bank on ‘janata ka gathbandhan' to revive fortunes in 2027 UP elections
Lucknow: In the 2027 UP assembly elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party 's antithesis to political 'gathbandhan' (alliance)" will be 'janata ka gathbandhan' (alliance of people). This is the idea with which the party wants to make a comeback to power, 20 years after it formed a majority govt in UP in 2007. To make it happen, the party has started applying strategies it adopted in 2007. The basic activity was mobilising people from 'sarv samaj' (every caste and community) at the booth level and making them aware of the party's plans for growth and development. "We have started doing it again. We are informing people from various castes and communities about what all 'Behenji' after BSP formed the govt. We are also informing people about the constant onslaught being made by the Congress and the BJP on the constitutional provisions for SCs and backwards," said UP BSP president Vishwanath Pal. "The idea is to unite people from various backgrounds at the booth level against the propaganda of opposition parties. BSP plans to win by riding on 'janata ka gathbandhan'," he said. In the 2022 assembly elections, BSP won only one seat in UP (Rasra in Ballia) and polled over 12.8% of votes. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections did not do any good to the party's dropping political stakes in UP. It lost all the 10 seats won in 2019, and the vote share shrank to 9.4% from 19.4% in 2019. To tighten its grip on voters at the ground level, the party has taken to micro-planning and has started organising 'chaupals' and 'baithaks' at every booth in villages, in which senior and local functionaries are interacting with the people. Since booth is the micro-unit of electoral setup, BSP has pinned its hopes there. 'Chaupals' and 'baithaks' at the booth level may also not require local villagers to commute to some spot away from their homes to listen to party workers. "It is almost like a door-to-door meeting where maximum voters can be mobilised," said Pal.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
In a 1st, BSP state chief, not Maya, to preside over meet of UP unit
Lucknow: In a shift towards decentralisation of power within the BSP organisation, it will be the first time that the state president of the party will preside over a meeting of the state unit in the party's state of BSP national president Mayawati holding the monthly review of the UP unit of the party at the main party office in Lucknow, it will be the UP BSP president, Vishwanath Pal , doing so on is in line with Mayawati's recent reiteration of giving the "hardworking" cadre the chance to "grow and move ahead" in the party set-up. Pal said, "I do what Behenji tells me to do. She said more than a month ago that it will be either me or another senior leader reviewing the work assigned to the UP unit of the party in her absence. The upcoming meeting is just that."With Mayawati herself camping in Delhi at present, the state president will meet the district convenors of the 'bhaichara' (brotherhood) committees, formed in every district of UP by now, and the two convenors of these committees appointed in each of the assembly committees on March 25 were assigned tasks by Mayawati to start holding chaupals (meetings) in villages to make OBCs connect with the party. Operation Sindoor Operation Sindoor: Several airports in India closed - check full list Did Pak shoot down Indian jets? What MEA said India foils Pakistan's attack on Jammu airport: What we know so far The upcoming meeting will assess the performance of these committees on the task party, of late, has taken several steps to decentralise power within its organisation. It is for the first time that Mayawati has appointed three national coordinators to mobilise BSP's ranks and file in every state where it has a from that, the number of committees constituted at the block, district, and divisional levels have mostly got more than one in-charge and convenors. Besides redrawing its connection with the voters, BSP has also taken up mobilisation of its cadre where decentralisation of roles may come handy for the party, as more and more of its "committed workforce" may be accommodated in positions of responsibility.
