In the politics like everything else in the human life, the events are interconnected though they might not look that way when we have a cursory glance at them. Mayawati resigned from the Rajya Sabha knowing well that after her term had ended in 2018, she did not have enough number of MLAs (38 required and she got 12) to send her back to Rajya Sabha. It means that she cannot be in the Parliament until the next Lok Sabha elections due in the year 2019. This means that she has a lot of time now to work her political options, a clever move indeed by a veteran politician who started her public career with BAMCEF in the year 1977. When the BAMCEF was started, the goal was to bring Bahujan Samaj (SC, ST, OBCs, and Converted minorities) in power and dismantle the Brahminical Manu-ism completely and fully.

The goal of the BAMCEF was to bring in a peaceful social revolution in India through political means and that is why the BSP was born and in just 5 years, the BSP became one of the biggest parties in India. And then the BSP saw declining and this is not the space to enter into that discussion, but it is important to look at the current ideological situation in India. The Manu-ist political party is in the power and the RSS is having an iron-grip on Indian political machinery. The grip will tighten and there are already signs of it that it is already tightening the noose around the delicate necks of the SCs, STs, OBCs, and Converted minorities. If Mayawati goes back to her ideological home of the Bahujan-ism, she will have at her disposal the tools to dismantle the Manu-ism. She cannot use the same tools that the Manu-ists are using and she must use her ideological tools. It is clear that this is the only way to go for the BSP. So her resignation is more than welcome if she is going to rebuild the BSP as she builds with her mentor, Kanshiram.

She should not just concentrate on UP, but also extend her base all over India. The masses are ready and they are willing to work. They need some political framework to bring their strength into one bigger whole that will create unprecedented power. With the Congress in decline and dying stage, it is the BSP, and BSP alone, that can save the democracy in this country by bringing the aspects of the social movements and diversities in the political arena. All the best wishes to her and Bahujan Samaj.

Indian democracy is seriously challenged now as the RSS/BJP is trying to sabotage the parliamentary democracy in India. The upper caste political pundits (one can read political stupids) have been arguing that the PM is the CEO of the country and that he needs a strong team of the people to deliver the monumental and challenging (read mindless and anti-national) policies like demonetization. Well, the Constitution does not make anybody a CEO. The Prime Minister is not a CEO and the country is not a company. If anybody is talking like that they have not understood, or deliberately misleading India’s gullible masses, that India is a Parliamentary democracy, in which the Prime Minister is “prime among the equals”. He is not the President of the country.

The Prime Minister must take decisions in consultation with his cabinet and the Cabinet is ultimately responsible to the Parliament which is made up of the political parties and the political parties represent the diversity of the opinions and they are responsible to their stakeholders. In the case of the BSP, it is responsible to the bigger constituency of the SCs, STs, OBCs, and the converted minorities. Hence the idea of bringing “technical people” in the bureaucracy and the cabinet laterally is the death of the democracy and the murderous route to the autocratic dictatorship of Modi. It must be stopped. There are many ways to bring in the technical people and technical skills while running the government, but they must not be brought into Parliament with anti-parliamentary processes. It is treason against the country as it sabotages Indian democracy.

After Naidu is declared as the VP candidate, Smriti Irani has shifted her base to Shastri Bhavan once again, but this time in the Avatar of a female version of Arnav G. She is not suitable for the post as it was proved by how she handled the Rohith Vemula case. She hadn’t yet given her head to Mayawati, but her head got bigger with the new ministry. The IB ministry is a vehicle of the RSS/BJP to campaign for the elections and their only work is to put Modi on all the posters like the “Big Boss” watching over everything. Smriti Irani will further that process in the run up to next elections. She is the right person to color everything in RSS/BJP tinge and the day is not far when the ministry will transform itself into the campaigning machine for RSS/BJP in the next 2019 elections.

Thumbs up to Mayawati, complete no to lateral entry in bureaucracy and cabinet, and vehement opposition to making Smriti Irani the I&B minister with an eye on the next elections!

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist