UP Election 2017: Donations Or Kickbacks? The Mystery Of Mayawati's Funds

Lucknow:

At a recent rally in the Uttar Pradesh campaign, the Prime Minister took a sharp jibe at Mayawati, the leader of Bahujan Samaj Party. The BSP, he remarked, is now 'Behenji Sampatti Party', a party of Mayawati's funds.

The Prime Minister was perhaps alluding to recent media reports of claims by the Income Tax department, of having found over Rs 100 crores deposited in accounts of the BSP shortly after demonetisation.

Mayawati has rebutted this, claiming in one of her speeches that the notes ban hit while the BSP was in the midst of a collection drive, and that the Rs 100 crores was from millions of small donations from the party's supporters, some of them at the lower end of the economic ladder.

But the IT's supposed findings tie in with the persistent cloud over the BSP's sources of funding.

While all political parties in India show 60-70% of their funds as received from unaccounted sources, (that is, as donations below Rs 20,000, which are exempt from strict diligence), the BSP has always shown as having received 100% of its funds from unaccounted sources.

The amount is not small - the party has shown as having received funds of Rs 760 crores between 2004 and 2015, of which not even a single rupee is by cheque.

This has fuelled suspicion that some - if not all - of the BSP's cash trove is from the sale of tickets to candidates.  

At a Mayawati rally in Gonda in eastern Uttar Pradesh, we meet some of the party's candidates from this region, almost all of whom face that allegation of having paid anywhere between Rs 2 and Rs 4 crores for a ticket.

But Jaleel Khan, the BSP candidate from Gonda Sadar, mirrored Mayawati's claims, saying that it is other parties which are distributing Rs 10-20 crore per constituency out of nervousness. And that the BSP's funds are from its supporters.

The reality is, as always complex.

Hours before the rally, we traveled to Narora Arjun in Gonda, a village made up mostly of Dalits.  

Here, at first they claim they contribute for local welfare initiatives, not to the party.

"We have never given any donations to any party," said Govind Gautam, from Narora Arjun village. But then, after prodding by a local BSP activist, they concede that some of them do contribute to the party.

Gautam said he gave Rs 500 as part of his 6-monthly contribution, and that he was given a receipt for it.

Sangam Das Bharti, a BSP worker told us that he contributes Rs 5,100 every 6 months.
He says it is in this way that the party, shunned by wealthy businessmen, builds up a war chest.

From these anecdotal voices, it is clear that some amount of the BSP's funds may be genuine small donations - but it is impossible to estimate the extent.

In her last Rajya Sabha affidavit, Mayawati has declared assets of over Rs 100 crores, which raises questions over whether some of the money from her poorest supporters may have ended up enriching her.

But here in the village, they do not appear to care.

"She (Mayawati) is a big support for all of us. If she is here, then we can stay alive, or else people will not let us live here," said Gautam.