STATE ELECTIONS: A STUDY OF 1996 ASSEMBLY ELECTION IN UP ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctor oC $fitlofi(opf)}> IN POLITICAL SCIENCE BY SAN]EDA WARSI UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Prof. M. ASMER BEG DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 2008 ABSTRACT Uttar Pradesh, a relatively backward state, has been important in India's politics since independence. It has always played a decisive role in the formation of the government at the centre as it used to have 85 lok sabha seats. It is India's fifth largest state with basically an agrarian society. After independence, leaders tried to politicize these peasants and convert them in their vote bank. Rich peasants from upper castes dominated U.P. politics for a long period. Uttar Pradesh has a heterogeneous society which' is divided into different castes and communities. Hindu and Muslims are the two important religious groups. Muslims have so many sects and Hindu society is divided into many castes and sub-castes. Brahmans, kshatriya and Thakurs are upper castes, Kurmi, Yadav and Lodhis are considered as OBC's; Saini, Prajapati and Pal are MBC's while Jatav, Chamar, Pasi, Kori, and Dhobi are considered as scheduled castes. Different political parties try to manipulate these social cleavages and make sectarian appeal to mobilize voters. Congress has always been a dominant party in U.P, except a notable exception of 1977 U.P. Assembly Elections. Congress ruled U.P. for almost two decades after independence. It was known as an upper caste party as a result of upper caste domination. Congress was tactfully using caste politics to capture power. Rajni Kothari describe this as "Congress System". The election of 1967 greatly reduced Congress strength at the centre and in the states. From 1967 Congress support in the states steadily leaked away to the various regional parties. After 1967, there was first coalition era in U.P. state up to 1977. In this decade, congress remained a single largest party in the state except in 1977 when it could manage only 47 seats - lowest since independence. This decade was also marked by frequent elections i.e. mid-term elections and instability and it was believed that only Congress could give a stable government in the state, while other socialist parties and Jana Sangh could not deliver the result. The Grand Coalition : The Janata party could overthrow the congress but in 1980 Congress come back in power. From 1989 upto now, its position in the state is deteriorating. Decline of Congress resulted in the emergence of multiparty system in U.P. Before 1996, in three successive state Assembly Election 1989, 1991 and 1993, no single party was able to secure a majority, resulting in the formation of coalition Government. Instead of Congress, B.S.P., S.P. and B.J.P. were more powerful in the state. Not only these parties formed coalition in the state by uniting themselves, these could be characterized as a coalition of group interests representing a segment of the social community. The big size of the state, the existence of various castes and communities and other related problems such as communalism tends to divide society, and has turned sections of the masses towards a party which can represent their interest. Making only sectarian appeal these parties can win a large numbers of votes from their own targeted group. This however, leaves them short of a majority. The only viable solution remains a coalition government. In U.P., whether it was coalition between SP-BSP or BJP and BSP, it could not survive for a long period. Coalition government in the state. therefore, needs to tackle the problem of stability. In 1993, SP-BSP combine formed the coalition government in the state. Muslim, Dalits and OBC came together to defeat communal and upper caste parties. But this coalition could not survive because of ambitious strategies of SP and BSP. After the collapse of BSP-SP alliance Mayawati became Chief Minister of U.P. in June 1995 with an alliance with BJP. Major aim of this alliance was to control Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose increasing political influence both partners wished to curb. This BSP and BJP flirtation was characterized as opportunistic political strategy of both the partners. One major question which arose with this alliance was why BSP entered into an alliance with a Manuwadi party who was against Bahujanwad? BSP had always declared its opposition to all forms of Brahmanism. Coalition between two partners is not an easy affair but coalition with a partner who has a completely different ideology is entirely impossible for both the partners. Both tried to increase their influence at the cost of other. In U.P. the essence of coalition politics is opportunism and self interest. The main problem of coalition is that the interest of these actors in the coalition are not identical. Here coalition arrangements survive on negative agendas, like BJP aligned with BSP to stop SP from coming to power or in 1993, SP-BSP combined to stop BJP from coming to power. As these combines did not have identical interest, it result in breakup of coalitions, frequent President's rule and instability in the state. In U.P., caste is a factor of instability, violence and fractured verdict. It gave rise to multiparty system, impetus to regionalism. Mandalisation with anti-Mandal agitation and rise of lower castes on the political front. Earlier Congress had been a dominant party with a very weak factional opposition. Now congress is loosing its ground in U.P. and with the three other parties BJP, SP and BSP are building their base rapidly. In the fierce struggle for power from parties, no single party is able to gain majority and multiparty system is an established trend and is forcing parties to make unbelievable alliances. Caste politics is also making regionalism more prominent. Caste based parties can realize their potential largely at different regional levels. So, parties like SP and BSP can be seen as dominant parties in U.P. Parties also use one caste against other castes. Post Mandal politics in U.P. witnessed clashes between upper castes and OBCs on the one hand and lower castes opposition to OBCs on the other. Caste may be a secularizing force cutting across religious barriers but it gave rise to a different kind of struggle and violence in the state. Though dalits feel proud and have a sense of dignity but their upsurge is not a welcome move and they are subjected to fierce opposition in the state. Parties like BSP used caste politics as their 'natural right' opposing other castes openly and parties like BJP are heading for 'indirect dalitization', realizing its weak support base in the state, by making alliances with BSP. In 1989 elections Congress banked on its traditional Brahmin Harijan Muslim votes. BJP relied on its Hindutva politics with an eye on upper castes. Janata Dal appealed to OBCs Muslims, jats and Rajputs while BSP emerged solely as 'Dalit' party and raised its old slogan, Brahmin, Thakur, Bania Chor, Baki sab hain DS4 (Brahmin, Thakur and Banias are thieves and others belong to dalit shoshit sangharsh samiti). Implementation of Mandal commission Report sparked off a sharp polarization along caste lines in U.P. But it helped OBCs to rise as a political community. Mandal politics of Janata Dal was countered by Hindutva politics of BJP. BJP could emerge as the single largest party in 1993 Assembly election, it gained 178 seats with 33.3 per cent vote share but it could not form the government as it was short of about 37 seats to gain majority. It's Mandal vs Kamandal politics could not bring majority votes and victory of SP and BSP alliances was seen as victory of secular forces against Congress and BJP. In U,.P., competition between two national parties and: two state parties like SP and BSP show the growing resurgence of caste based parties. Now National parties like Congress and BJP are unable to dominate U.P. politics because of presence of state based parties like BSP and SP who have strong support of their own caste. It will not be wrong to say that caste based mobilization is a key feature of U.P. politics and seems to be an established one. One other major issue, which dominated U.P. politics since independence is communalism. From Bhartiya Jana Sangh to BJP an attempt has been witnessed in communalization of U.P. politics. In 1990, communalism was nurtured and promoted by the BJP in association with VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal. BJP openly used communal politics to come in power. Shilaniyas at the disputed site in Ayodhya and then demolition of Babri masjid added fiiel to the fire. Violence, riots and insecurity was everywhere and BJP could become a success overnight. One of the major causes of communalism is no doubt political opportunism. Though congress has been tacitly using communal identities, but BJP, wholeheartedly declared itself a Hindu party, fighting for the Hindu cause, using ideologies such as Hinduva to win elections. Hindu nationalists target secular state and allege that 'pseudo-secularism' or 'appeasing minorities' is anti-democratic. They don't believe in equality. They promote a party which exploits religion for getting votes and asks people to respond to the call for Hindutva at the polls. This Hindu Right also condemns those parties who declare themselves secular and accuse them of promoting minority rights at the cost of majority. Hindu right maintains that every Indian must acknowledge that he or she belongs to Hindutva.