In a way, the results of the Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh read like the people’s report card on the performance of Mayawati’s government. The Bahujan Samajwadi Party’s lacklustre showing may be attributed to a number of factors, including poor governance, the party’s patronage of criminals and the steady siphoning of public money towards building monuments in Lucknow. But at a hurried press conference, she blamed the rout squarely on the ‘deviousness’ of rival parties.

While it is true that the BSP has won 20 seats this time — one more than in 2004 — it was projected to win about 45 based on the party’s performance in the 2007 Assembly elections. At that time, she had thumped her way to victory based on her ‘social engineering’. She had also capitalised on public resentment against the incumbent Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

While preparing for the Lok Sabha elections, she kept in mind the caste and community complexion of each constituency. It didn’t matter that some of the candidates fighting on her Elephant symbol brought little to the kitty other than their vast wealth, thus alienating a large chunk of voters. The number of criminals the party fielded was, perhaps, only matched by Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party. As for political fence-hoppers, the BSP had the maximum.

In 2007, Mayawati had made SP’s “goonda raj” her main election issue and coined the slogan, “Charh Goondon Ki Chhati Par, Mohar Laga Kar Hathi Par (climb over criminals, put your stamp on the elephant)”. This time, when she fielded criminals like D P Yadav, Mukhtar Ansari, Dhananjay Singh and Anna Shukla, the Opposition had a rejoinder: “Goonde Charh Gaye Hathi Par, Goli Mare Chhati Par (criminals have climbed the Elephant, shooting people in the chest).”

... contd.