OPPOSITION Further Fragmented In India Post Collapse of Grand Alliance against Narendra Modi led NDA

OPPOSITION unity in India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, has suffered jolt after two caste based political parties have formally split. The bonhomie between the Bahujan Samaj Party claiming to be the Messiah of the Dalit community and Samajwadi Party representing land owning Yadavs soured after the Lok Sabha election results were declared on May 23. They fought the election together but results reveal that they   are far away from winning even fifty per cent of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the Hindi speaking state. While BSP has won 11 LS seats, SP has bagged only four seats. Bahujan Samaj Party’s supremo Mayawati on Monday, June 24, formalized the break-up of the alliance which was touted as the joint effort to help form government at the centre ousting PM Narendra Modi. She   said that the BSP would fight all elections henceforth .On Sunday, attacking Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at a party meeting, Mayawati had said that Yadav neither visited nor talked to her over phone ever since the Lok Sabha election results were announced. Mayawati said: “After the Mahagathbandhan lost the elections, I received no call from Akhilesh. BSP general secretary Satish Mishra asked him to speak to me, but he just wouldn’t listen. But because I am senior to him, I called him up instead and expressed sadness over his family members losing.”Despite expectations that the BSP-SP alliance would pose a threat to BJP in Uttar Pradesh, it only managed to get just 15 seats. As soon as the results were announced, the drift in the alliance could be seen clearly. A BSP leader present at the meeting said, “Behenji [Mayawati] told party leaders that Akhilesh had an important say in seat-sharing between the alliance partners and played a pivotal role in the selection of candidates. She said Akhilesh asked her to field minimum Muslim candidates as it might lead to polarisation during election. Terming it a bad advice, she said it proved to be an important factor in the defeat of the alliance.”She also accused Akhilesh Yadav of discriminating against the Muslim community at the meeting. Now, the BSP is busy contesting 12 assembly by-polls caused due to election of sitting MLAs to the Lok Sabha. Ahead of next assembly polls in January –February 2022 for 404 seats in UP, the collapse of the alliance has come as a God-sent   to the ruling BJP in the case divided state (edited by Pranab Kumar Chakravarty).