By all accounts, ever since her famous victory in Uttar Pradesh, BSP chief Mayawati has been restless and determined. Sensing the possibility of a mid-term poll, and an opportunity for the BSP, the newly anointed UP chief minister immediately embarked on a hectic campaign; the first round of ‘bhaichara banao’ rallies held in states where a BSP organisation exists concluded at Karnal on Sunday. At these rallies, the BSP chief has attempted to extend and build upon the ostensible winning formula in UP — flaunting brahmin faces in the BSP, rephrasing its slogans, draining them of anti-upper caste virulence. At these rallies, also, she showed remarkable inventiveness in weaving in the local, even constituency-level, issues into her larger strategy. So, will the general election be advanced in time for Mayawati to take advantage of the momentum she may have generated? Will it be enough to make Mayawati a player in states where her party hasn’t been part of the electoral calculus so far? To make her king-maker, or the queen? These are tantalising questions. But other political parties, and especially the Congress, which has borne the brunt of Mayawati’s exertions in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat already, would be responding inadequately to Mayawati’s politics if they spent their time and energy in merely watching their backs.

They would do better to look carefully at Mayawati. Her assiduous attempts to forge a new and inclusive social coalition are combined with a message of strong leadership. In UP, incidentally, it is debatable whether it was the former or the latter that was the centrepiece of her appeal to an electorate that felt insecure in an increasingly lawless environment — clearly, her unprecedented mandate was based on a combination of both factors. What is also clear is this: Mayawati is making a bid to take advantage of a perceived vacuum and discontent, not just in dalit politics, but in the national political arena. And she is not afraid to put in the hard work of political mobilisation that is necessary to occupy the space other political forces have been steadily vacating because of their own lack of political imagination and fleetfootedness in connecting with voters in times of change.

... contd.