UP elections: When slogans are on fast track

LUCKNOW: From a pure casteist ‘tilak, tarazu aur talwar, inko maro joote char' to all inclusive ‘Sarva samaj ke samman mein Behenji maidan mein', the slogans coined by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) before elections not only underlined the shift in party's ideology but have always been instrumental in galvanising its cadre. However this time, Mayawati ran out of ideas and had to remould the slogan ‘Chhad gundan ki chhati par, button daba hathi par' coined in 2007 assembly poll into ‘chhad vipakshi ki chhati par, button daba hathi par’ for the upcoming assembly election. However, the controversy over Election Commission's order to cover up statutes of Mayawati and elephants installed in dalit memorials has come as a boon in disguise for the BSP. It has provided Behenji a poll issue as well as helped her in coining a new slogan – ‘Khula hathi lakh ka aur bund hathi sawa lakh ka'. The cleverly drafted slogan is an adaption of an old rural saying ‘jinda hathi lakh ka, mara hathi bhi sawa lakh ka' (If living elephant is worth Rs 1 lakh, the dead one is of Rs 1.25 lakh). The old saying depicts the importance of an elephant while it is alive and the money one can make out of remains after its death. With ‘khula hathi lakh ka aur bund hathi sawa lakh ka’ (if open elephant is of Rs 1 lakh, the worth of the covered one is Rs 1.25 lakh), she has tried to put up a brave face and taunt her adversaries that they may have persuaded the EC to order covering of the statutes with an aim to damage her but in reality, they have ended up benefiting her party by providing huge publicity. It also assumes significance because this is the first time that Maya is going to election without a sympathy factor. Earlier, her government was pulled down thrice by the rivals, which earned her sympathy of dalits. But this time, there seems to be no sympathy factor at work as she ruled for full term. Her gambit on Muslim quota and UP division might not click. Sacking of ministers to project a clean image also failed. Now she plans to generate sympathy by projecting that anti-dalit forces have insulted dalit memorials, a pride for the community. The party has coined another slogan “button debega hathi par, baki sub baisakhi par” (Only BSP is confident of victor, others are struggling), in response to joint attack by Opposition parties at the ruling BSP. BSP ki kya pahchan, neela jhanda hathi nishan. However, the slogan coined in not as aggressive as the older ones.In 1984 after the launch of BSP, party founder late Kanshiram had coined the slogan - BSP ki kya pahchan, neela jhanda hathi nishan. Here hathi (elephant) symbolised dalit population and neela jhanda (blue flag) blue sky under which all are equal. Another slogan coined by BSP in its formative stage was ‘Baba (Ambedkar) tera kaam adhura, Kanshiram (BSP founder) karenge poora’. It was an attempt to project Kanshiram as the true heir of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Also, the party was in its infancy then. It was in a search of a strong dalit base, hence a provocative slogan was floated ‘tilak, tarazu aur talwar, inko maro joote chaar’. The slogan called upon dalits to overthrow the upper caste dominance. It worked and in 1989 UP assembly election, the BSP contested on 372 seats and won 13 with 9.41% votes. Party got a foothold in the state politics and it started working to expand its base. However, for that the requirement was to woo other castes and communities too. As a result, the BSP leadership disowned the ‘tilak, taraju aur talwar...’ slogan and said that it was not an official slogan of the party but of some miscreants. Mile Mulayam Kanshiram, hawa mein ud gaye Jai Shree Ram. In 1993, when BSP fought the assembly election in alliance with SP, it coined slogan ‘mile Mulayam Kanshiram, hawa mein ud gaye Jai Shree Ram’ to counter BJP's Ram Temple movement. The alliance swept the election. But in 1995, BSP broke away from SP to form government with the BJP's support. However, the government lasted for six months only. In 1996, in a bid to woo Muslims, the BSP coined slogan ‘brahmin, thakur, bania chhor, baaki sub hain DS 4’, which called upon the minorities and other socially backward castes to come under one umbrella. As a result, the BSP fought on 296 seats in 1996 mid-term election and won 67 with a significant 19.64% vote share.Gradually, the BSP diluted its hard antiupper caste stand further and in 2002, it floated the slogan - brahmin saaf, thakur half, bania maaf (banias have been pardoned, thakurs can be forgiven but brahmins would be finished) to woo thakurs and banias. It also gave tickets to candidates of these two castes in assembly election and won 98 seats. The vote share increased to 23.9%. However, when upper caste MLAs, mainly thakurs defected in large numbers to SP in 2003, bringing down the BSP government, Maya decided to woo the brahmins. Hathi nahin Ganesh hai, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai' In 2007, Mayawati coined the slogan ‘Hathi nahin Ganesh hai, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai’ (BSP's election symbol also represents Hindu god Ganesh) to attract the brahmins.With it, she also coined several other slogans to project that though BSP is a dalit-based party, it is open to all castes and communities. Hence, Mayawati also coined slogans ‘Jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, uski utni bhagidari’ and ‘Jiski jitni hai taiyari, uski utni hissedari’ (representation in ticket distribution and sharing of power will be as per the support of the particular caste in terms of number of votes).Accordingly, Mayawati gave tickets to 86 brahmins and 59 Muslims in 2007 assembly election. It paid rich dividends and increased the BSP's vote share to 30.37% in 2007 bringing it to power with an absolute majority. Nearly half of the brahmin and Muslim MLAs were given ministerial or equivalent posts. For the upcoming assembly election, Maya has repeated the 2007 formula and given tickets to 88 dalit candidates, 113 backward classes, 85 Muslims, 74 brahmins, 34 thakurs and ten others. BSP leaders said that they were concerned with the aggressive wooing of dalits by Congress but after statue controversy, they are confident of consolidating their position. Elections 2012 NewsUP Assembly Elections 2012