Emergence and Decline of Dalit Movement in Uttar Pradesh

Dalit movement for social justice is not new; this kind of movements began in South India at least approximately 100 years before than in North India. This was late movement but became historical in its nature because South India's movement was against dominant Brahmins, while they were less in population, but in North India it was against a group of dominants of Brahmins, Chhatriya, Kayasth and Vaisya more number than South India. This established a historical achievement as a Dalit lady Mayawati became the first Chief Minister in India through Dalit movements. The core agenda of these movements was uplifting of Dalit and social justice. But after around a decade BSP leadership created a new formula to occupy the political power, and she named it ‘social engineering’. Actually, this social engineering was a tactical and conspicuous move adopted by the BSP. This is a very natural question raised by intellectuals of both Dalit and Brahmins because the emergence of Dalit movement in beginning was basically established against Manuvadi and Brahman supremacy. I tried to understand why BSP, which was anti-Brahmans from beginning, diverted their approach and agenda. It is pertinent to share that in UP, BSP missed a golden opportunity to polarise OBC, a big chunk of population in own political fold.