Mayawati questions bulldozer justice, caste equations in party posts

Not a single seat has been won by BSP in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, followed by reports of its core Dalit votes shifting to other parties. Now Mayawati is returning to the basics and trying to reframe the party's Bahujan strategy. Mayawati has raised concerns over the growing trend of using bulldozers for demolition drives, stating that such actions do not symbolize the rule of law. Mayawati has initiated a strategy to stop further loss of the BSP support base. According to party functionaries, besides raising the issue of the Supreme Court's quota judgment, the BSP has also decided to emphasize on caste equations in party appointments. A change is already being witnessed, as more than half of the responsibilities in some district units in Uttar Pradesh have been reassigned to Dalit and most backward community leaders. But the challenge before the party, therefore, is not only to win back Brahmin, Muslim, and non-Yadav backward class votes, a strategy that propelled it to power in 2007 but to also win back the nearly 21 per cent Dalit vote, 12 per cent of this being Jatav, which is Mayawati's caste.