"Falsely Called Us B-Team Of BJP": Mayawati Blames UP Loss On Media, Rival

In her first public address after almost getting wiped out in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati today blamed the media and Samajwadi Party (SP) for the party's loss. While trying to lift the spirit of party workers, she blamed the media and political rival SP for misleading her anti-BJP voters into thinking that her party was the "B team" of BJP. She claimed that it drove away her Muslim voters as well.

The BSP, which formed a full majority government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, managed to win just one seat this time with a vote share of 12.88 per cent.

The BSP had fielded 97 Muslim nominees in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls while the SP had fielded 64 candidates from the minority community.

Thirty-six of the 36 winning Muslim candidates are from the Akhilesh Yadav-led party. In addition to the jailed Azam Khan, his son Abdullah Azam and Nahid Hasan from Kairana won on SP tickets. Muslims constitute around 20 per cent of the population in Uttar Pradesh.

"We have gathered feedback from the entire state. The casteist media, nasty scheming, constant negative campaigning to mislead Muslims and anti-BJP Hindus have been successful to a large extent. They created a perception that the BSP is a B-team of the BJP and is not fighting against it as vigorously as SP is. The truth is entirely the opposite," she said.

Former Chief Minister Mayawati asserted that the BSP's fight against BJP was not just political but ideological and principled as well. "The media's constant misrepresentation of us, and BJP's aggressive anti-Muslim election campaign made the Muslim community vote for SP. Hindus who oppose BJP also didn't come to BSP because of this," she said.

Mayawati called on party workers to not lose hope and continue with "the struggle to carve out a way in difficult situations throughout their lives". 

The 77-year-old leader said that UP election results were opposite to the expectations of the BSP.

"UP election results are opposed to BSP's expectations. We should not be discouraged by it. Instead, we should learn from it, introspect and carry forward our party movement, and come back to power," she said.

She cited the examples of BJP and Congress who had built on their respective party bases after their poll defeats and went on to form governments in Uttar Pradesh. She said that BJP has also seen such unfavourable political situations and for a long time after independence, the people did not give them an opportunity to rule. "Even in UP, the BJP wasn't very strong before 2017," she said and added that Congress is going through a similar slump. "UP election result is a lesson for us to continue putting in efforts," Mayawati said.

"This decision by the Muslims harmed the BSP because the party's supporters among the upper castes, backwards and other communities were made to fear that the 'jungle raj' will return to UP again if the SP is elected to power. That is why these communities went to the BJP," she added.

She also said that the Muslim community has made a "mistake" by trusting the SP instead of the "time-tested" BSP. The Mayawati-led party had contested all the 403 seats on its own but managed to win just one - Rasra in Maharajganj.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav today said he was grateful to the voters of the state for a two-and-a-half fold increase in their seat tally and a one-and-a-half fold surge in their vote share.

"We have shown that the BJP's seat count can be decreased. This decline would continue. More than half of falsehoods have been wiped out, the rest will follow. The struggle in public interest would continue," he said in his first public reaction after the results were declared yesterday.

Mr Yadav's party won 111 seats on its own and the alliance led by it posted a victory in 125 constituencies. This was a jump of 73 from its show in the 2017 election. This was also the Samajwadi Party's best performance ever.

The BJP has retained power in Uttar Pradesh by winning 255 out of 403 constituencies, securing a 41.29 per cent vote share. This was a drop of 49 seats from the party's tally in 2017.

This is the first time in 37 years that a party has been able to retain power in Uttar Pradesh after completing a full term. Narayan Dutt Tiwari in 1985 had secured two consecutive terms in the state.

Notably, BJP came to power in 2000 in the state, but could not hold its government even for a year when Rajnath Singh was UP Chief Minister. Since then, the BJP could not come to power, and the state was ruled by the Samajwadi Party and BSP separately till 2017.