Seat gone, Athawale now plans to revive former militant outfit

Though the specifics of the revival are being worked out, it has been decided to re-open BDP’s chhawnis (camps)—similar to the Shiv Sena shakhas. With Athawale still allied to the NCP, the outfit’s youngsters are likely to be used by Sharad Pawar to counter the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the run-up to the general elections.

The BDP was an offshoot of the Dalit Panthers (DP). As the DP split over several ideological and personal issues, several factions came into existence. The BDP came into prominence during the “Namantar” movement—to demand the renaming of the Marathwada University after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In 1978, casteist riots broke out in the state, mainly in Marathwada, as the Shiv Sena and “upper” castes opposed the move to rename the University. During the riots and arson, members of the BDP rushed to the affected areas to provide protection to Dalits. Athawale, subsequently, emerged as its leader and was picked up by Pawar, who renamed the university 16 years after becoming the chief minister.

Athawale and his lieutenants, who were militant in the 1970s, are now nearing their 50s and the revival of BDP would ensure some young blood at their disposal. The RPI(A) has no youth wing like other parties. Given his knack of remembering at least a dozen faces by name in most villages of the state and identifying them publicly, Athawale is popular among Dalit activists—who know that he would rush to their help when required. However, Athawale’s strong bonding with Pawar has been the main hurdle in uniting all RPI factions, as other leaders have asked him to break ties with the NCP as a pre-condition.

Athawale, who is serving his third term as a Lok Sabha MP had been elected from the North Central Mumbai constituency in 1998 and twice from Pandharpur (Solapur), in 1999 and 2004. The Pandharpur constituency, which was reserved for SCs, has been dereserved after the delimitation exercise. Athawale now has no safe constituency to contest and is heading for the political wilderness. Kopargaon — now represented by former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil — is one of the constituencies on Athawale’s radar. After delimitation the constituency has been reserved for SCs and renamed Shirdi.