The much-acclaimed social engineering concept, which brought the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to power last year, has not worked in party’s favour in the recently concluded Assembly elections in four states.

According to party sources, in order to bring about a change in the general perception that BSP is still a party of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Chief Minister Mayawati has asked her cadres to hold camps spreading the message that BSP is a “Sarvajan Samaj” party.

Mayawati herself had made this observation in a meeting held at her residence on Wednesday.

Even in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati feels the need for BSP to consolidate its gains. For the first time since she first became the Chief Minister in 1995, she has asked party leaders to hold cadre camps all over the state.

“The cadre camps, which used to be a routine exercise when Kanshi Ram headed the party, have not been organised for over a decade now,” said a party leader.

The chief minister has also outlined guidelines for the camps, which includes “elimination of the general notion that BSP is a SC or ST party”. “Show everyone that BSP government represents different castes,” she had said.

Apart from the cadre camps, the Bhaichara Committees of the BSP have also been asked to hold their community-wise camps by January end. The party has over two dozen Bhaichara Committee’s of different castes.

“Basically, the aim of the camps is to apprise the new entrants of BSP’s ideology,” said a member of the Bhaichara Committee.

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