BSP is a National Political Party but it was found that the organizational structure of the BSP is very weak in the Maharashtra. It is not a well-organized party. The office bearers including State President, State In charge are handpicked by the party Superemo Mayawati.and Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha Committee In charges are handpicked by the State President and State In charge Thus,contrary to the claims of the party constitution there is no inner democracy and no regular meetings of any organization are held. In fact, neither at the district level nor at the party headquarters at the state level there is any written information available. It was also found that there is a lack of coordination among the various organizational bodies of the party.Most of the party workers and leaders had very poor knowledge about the organizational structure and the ideology of the party. In the decision making process also the party does not adopt tthe democratic way because all the decisions are taken by the National President and many of the workers did not know as to who was the main decision maker in the party. Originally BSP is a caste based party as it has the Dalits as the target group. but Dalits are not attached in large scale with this party.as well as buddhists also are not attached with this party in large scale. The role of the education is very important to create the qualities of leadership but the leadership of the party in Maharashtra is not well educated. Approximately 70% leaders’ educational qualification was only up to 10+2 level. Due to the lack of able leadership BSP has not been able to spread the ideology of the party in Maharashtra. It was observed during the survey that majority of the leaders, who claimed to be active in BSP did not have basic knowledge about the ideology and constitution of BSP. Although 80%leaders of the party reported that they joined this party because they liked the ideology of the party but they were not able to explain the policies and programmes of the party. It was found during the field survey that there was a lack of proper coordination between the leadership of BSP and the Dalit voters the main support base of the party. It was found that not only the party was notable to widen its support base among the other sections even the Dalits were drifting away from the party. Kanshi Ram still remains the most liked leader. It was revealed during the study that 54 percent workers of the party rated Kanshi Ram as the ideal leader. Around 27 percent workers of Maharashtra unit of the party favoured Mayawati the National President of the party. Majority of the leadership of the party in Maharashtra were not satisfied with the state leadership of party.Most of the workers of the party feels that after Kanshi Ram’s death it has become a one person party and many old workers of the party have left the BSP. Many complained that the main focus of the National Leadership of the party was on UP.In Maharashtra BSP is facing a problem of factionalism. BSP lacks sound programmes for the depressed sections of the society. The poor Dalit masses were found to be alleging that the BSP leaders indulge in amassing wealth and did not care for the interests of the poor. They were like any other party where the leaders come to the masses only for votes. Regarding the responses to the query about the poor performance of the party in Maharashtra the data reveals that workers and leaders of the BSP did not have common views. They gave many reasons for the poor performance of the party like lack of Dalit consciousness,lack of able leadership, weak organization of the party, party high command’s concentration on UP etc. About the future of the BSP in Maharashtra the sampled workers and leaders of the party were found to be optimistic. Majority of the party leaders were of the view that in future BSP will dominate in Maharashtra politics. But for this the party must focus on Dalit issues. About the idea of Sarvjan Samaj and experiment of social engineering the majority of sampled workers and leaders favoured the idea of Upper Castes joining BSP but most of them were unaware of the term “Social Engineering” as such. A substantial percentage of common voters opined that BSP is a party of only the Dalits but a large section did not agree that it was a party looking after the Dalits and poor. They did not find any difference in BSP and other parties as none cared for the poor.When some other political questions were asked, it was found that most of them avoided answering them or they did not know the answer. Still many thought that BSP should work for the poor people and BSP should work in co-operation with various factions of Republican Party Of India. Most of them did not have any idea about the causes of poor performance of BSP or the issue of Social engineering. Thus the Bahujan Samaj Party in Maharashtra Faces many problems. Some of these are: the weak organizational structure, the lack of able leadership, the absence of co-ordination among the various organizations of the party, the failure of the party leadership to focus on regional and specific socio-cultural issues, wide spread factionalism and the absence of dedicated party workers who could genuinely identify with the poor sections of the society. If the party has to emerge as a potential political player in Maharashtra it need to focus on the following issues. First and foremost the organizational structure of the party must be overhauled. Inner party democracyis very important. Thus the party need to decentralize and the workers who are attached to the roots must be given opportunity to give proper feed back to the top leadership. If National leadership of the BSP concentrates on Maharashtra and the state leadership works in coordination with it only then the image of the party will improve in the minds of common masses and workers of the party. Unless and until the grass root level leaders are given due importance they will not work with enthusiasm. Further the party must mobilize the masses and undertake recruitment drive. The youth must be sensitized and mobilized to join BSP. As the Dalits are aloof from the party,there is serious needs to reform its strategies to sincerely work for issues related to Dalits. Although BSP does talk about the‘Sarv Samaj’ but it has a tag of Dalit party. It is the need of the time that BSP convinces the upper caste people that this party is a party of all and not only of the Dalits. BSP is already working on the concept of Social Engineering and Maharashtra leadership also wants to implement this formula in the state, it must do it in a systematic method otherwise it cannot succeed in Maharashtra because the situation of Maharashtra is totally different from other states. If BSP wants to create a hold in Maharashtra then it is compulsory for it to give sound programmes not only for the depressed sections but for every section of the society. If it gives some sound programme and its leaders sincerely work in their areas for the welfare of the people it can hope to get support from the masses. Factionalism within the party must be checked. For this it is very important that the party high command takes interest in the affairs of the party and gives due credit to the real workers of the party. There is a need for better co-ordination among the various organizational units of the party in the state and national leadership. The need of the hour is that BSP should create able leadership in Maharashtra. After the poor performance of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections most of the partyworkers blamed Mr. Vilas Garuds and Party in charge Veer Singhs style of functioning.most of the workers are not satisfied with the state President. The party must adopt the democratic method of electing its leadership. Lastly the political strategies should be framed by the party leadership keeping in mind the socio-political conditions of Maharashtra. If a policy succeeds in any other state it is not necessary that it would succeed in Maharashtra also. The BSP leadership must reorient its policies and programmes in tune with the socioeconomic-political environment of the state. To sum up it may be said that there are many problems and challenges before the BSP in Maharashtra. Without systematic organization and sound political strategies it cannot make a success in Maharashtra.In 2014 Loksabha electionthere is no possibility of BSP can show any significant presence in Maharashtra politics
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 15:02:21 +0000
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