Political importance has been thrust on other actors prematurely. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi grew into their jobs, as did Naveen Patnaik, and so, it is hoped, will Omar Abdullah. H.D. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral found themselves at the right place at the right time. The BJP had its first shot at the Centre when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was still being described as the “right” man in the “wrong” party. But Mayawati’s case is different.

It is not just that she was neither born into political power nor smoothly catapulted into the providential circumstance. As a Dalit leading a primarily Dalit party, Mayawati has had to claw her way from the system’s darkest and most distant periphery towards its centre. The friction it has inevitably generated is still very raw.

In terms of numbers, the BSP has had an amazing run. The party that was formed in 1984 debuted in the Lok Sabha polls the same year, with both Mayawati and Kanshi Ram failing to get elected. It became the party with the majority in UP a little over two decades later, breaking the cycle of indecisive verdicts in the state. In the recent round of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, J&K, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, the BSP increased its vote share everywhere, except in J&K. It nearly tripled in Delhi and almost doubled in Rajasthan. Its seats increased in each state, again except in J&K. In the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, senior SP leaders admit that without an alliance with the Congress, it could be advantage Mayawati again in UP.

... contd.