Lucknow (PTI): Newly elected Samajwadi Party (SP) MP R K Chaudhary, one of the founders of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), has claimed BSP chief Mayawati has been ignoring the Bahujan movement which has led to her party's rout in these Lok Sabha polls.

Now, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is taking forward the Bahujan movement, demanding social equality for backward castes and disadvantaged communities, with the slogan of 'PDA' (backward, Dalit and minority), said Chaudhary, a four-time MLA and former state minister who is counted among Uttar Pradesh's prominent Dalit leaders.

In a conversation with PTI, Choudhary, who has been elected MP from the Mohanlalganj seat on an SP ticket, discussed among other things the BSP's falling graph and what future holds for the party founded by Kanshi Ram.

According to him, the core Dalit politics in Uttar Pradesh has become leaderless at the moment, but in the coming times, the SP will carry forward the flame of Bahujanism awakened by Kanshi Ram.

When asked about the reasons for the BSP not being able to win even one seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections, Choudhary said, "Mayawati ji has been our leader. We respect her. But if anyone has ended Kanshi Ram ji's movement, it is Behen ji (Mayawati). Now, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has started walking on the path of taking that movement forward."

Claiming that the SP a got considerable share of Dalit votes in the Lok Sabha elections, he said, "The SP this time got the core vote of the Bahujan Samaj Party without asking for it."

"Somewhere, it got 50 per cent and somewhere it got 60 per cent (of the Dalit votes). This is not an ordinary thing. And in the coming times, the Samajwadi Party, under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, will definitely fulfill the dream that BSP founder Kanshi Ram ignited."

The BSP, the party which has formed government in Uttar Pradesh four times, could not win a single seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. Its votes share also took a massive hit of more than 10 percentage points from the 2019 elections, when it had won 10 seats, to stand at 9.39 percent.

Choudhary was once a very close associate of BSP founder Kanshi Ram. He has also served as minister in all the four previous BSP governments in the state.

In this Lok Sabha election, he defeated Union Minister and BJP leader Kaushal Kishore by more than 70,000 votes from the Mohanlalganj seat in the state capital. BSP candidate Rajesh Kumar got 88,461 votes and stood third.

"When Kanshi Ram was there, he was capable of running Babasaheb Ambedkar's mission, but the Bahujan Samaj was then not mentally prepared for it," Chaudhary said.

"Today, this society knows about the Constitution and reservation but now there is no one to lead them. As far as the core Dalit leadership position is concerned, I think the space is vacant and whoever makes efforts will lead them," he said.

"Dalits believe in Babasaheb Ambedkar, they believed in Kanshi Ram ji as well. Now Kanshi Ram is no more, so Dalits are left feeling cheated and are wondering what to do," he said.

"I think that there used to be a slogan that the one who will talk about Bahujan will rule Delhi. Now the slogan that is being raised is that the one who will talk about PDA (backward, Dalit, minority) will rule Delhi," he said, describing the SP as the current torchbearer for the community.

SP President Akhilesh Yadav had given the slogan of PDA in the Lok Sabha elections and said that the SP will take forward the fight of these classes.

Chaudhary said, "Earlier, there was a slogan that Baba (Ambedkar) your mission is incomplete, Kanshi Ram will complete it. The mission is going on. Kanshi Ram ji is no more now. So now the slogan has become that Baba your mission is incomplete, we all together will complete it.''

"The path that BSP founder Kanshi Ram found, that the Bahujan Samaj should be brought together to form a political force, our leader Akhilesh Yadav has taken the same path and talked about PDA. This is the society which has been looted and it remained weak and helpless for centuries. After the formation of PDA, the process of change has started. It will move forward.''

"Our target was to remove the BJP government from power at the centre, but it did not happen. But we have succeeded in giving a blow to the BJP. Earlier, there used to be a strong BJP government at the centre, but now there is a weak government. Sooner or later, within six months, this government will fall and the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) coalition government will be formed," he said

When asked about the BJP not getting the expected success in Uttar Pradesh in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the former minister said, "The BJP does only Hindu-Muslim politics in the country. The BJP has had to bear the brunt of this politics in this election. If they do not stop this, they will have to suffer more."

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Bhubaneswar (PTI): BJD president Naveen Patnaik held a meeting with his party's nine Rajya Sabha MPs on Monday and asked them to emerge as a "vibrant and strong" opposition in the Upper House of Parliament during its upcoming session that would begin on June 27.

At the meeting, Patnaik also asked the lawmakers to raise issues concerning the state's interests in a befitting manner.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the party's leader in Rajya Sabha Sasmit Patra said, "The BJD MPs this time will not be confined to speaking on issues only, but are determined to agitate if the BJP-led government at the Centre ignores Odisha's interest."

Besides raising the demand for special status to Odisha, the BJD MPs will raise the issues of poor mobile connectivity and low density of bank branches in the state, he said.

"Odisha's demand for revision of coal royalty has been ignored by the Centre for the last 10 years. This is causing great loss to the people of the state who are deprived of their rightful share," he added.

Maintaining that the nine MPs in Rajya Sabha will act as a strong opposition, Patra said Patnaik has given clear instructions to fight for the rights of the state's people in the Parliament.

When asked whether BJD would maintain its earlier stance of giving issue-based support to the BJP-led government, he said, "No more support to BJP, only opposition. We may go to any extent to protect the interests of Odisha."

Later, Patra told PTI, "There is no question of supporting the BJP. The BJD president asked us to act as a strong and vibrant opposition if the NDA government continues to ignore the genuine demands of Odisha."

The BJD has nine MPs in the Rajya Sabha, while it failed to win any seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, for the first time since its formation in 1997.

The BJD also lost power in the state with the BJP bringing an end to its government of 24 years.

The BJD not only supported the BJP in Parliament on different issues over the last few years but also helped Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw get elected to Rajya Sabha in 2019 and 2024.

At a meeting with senior BJD leaders on Sunday, Patnaik had said, "You all know that the BJP has got four seats more than the majority mark in the Odisha assembly. At the Centre also, it does not have a majority on its own. Hence, you should work hard, stay united, and strengthen the party."