Lucknow: Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad has said that he will float his new party on March 15, which incidentally, happens to be the birth anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder, late Kanshi Ram, reported IANS.
The Bhim Army also plans to wean away a number of former BSP MPs, MLAs and MLCs. "Talks are underway and a number of BSP leaders have already contacted us. Many of them are upset with the BSP and want an option," said a Bhim Army activist. A number of BSP leaders have also met Chandra Shekhar who was in Lucknow recently. Last week, in an interview to News 18, Aazad said, “ We have decided to turn Bhim Army, an organisation formed with the aim of educating Dalit youth and fighting caste atrocities, into a political party that will contest the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022.”
"I had wanted to announce the formation of a political party back in December, but then this unconstitutional law came into place," Aazad says, referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). "To fight against the CAA was more important than fighting elections," he adds. Former district president Ram Lakhan Chaurasiya, BSP leaders Izharul Haq and Ashok Chaudhary even took the membership of Bhim Army. During his two day stay in Lucknow, Chandra Shekhar reportedly met a large number of leaders and discussed the political situation with them.
Chandra Shekhar later told reporters that politics for him, was not an ambition but a compulsion. "The Bhim Army organization will convert into a political organization. We wanted to announce the political party in December but then the anti-CAA protests began and that became our priority," he told IANS.
The Bhim Army chief, according to sources, is now keen to fill up the vacuum created by the BSP in Dalit politics.
"The BSP now exists only on Twitter and Mayawati's BSP is now bereft of Dalit leadership. The party has Brahmin leaders in the Lok Sabha (Ritesh Pandey) and the Rajya Sabha (Satish Chandra Mishra) which reflects its changing face, “ said a Dalit writer R.K. Gautam. "The Bhim Army is focusing only on Dalits and is bound to get the advantage of the prevailing situation," he added. Besides, the 37-year-old Bhim Army chief has been bringing Dalit youths in large numbers into his organization and this could be his major strength when he makes a debut in politics.
Chandra Shekhar first hit the headlines in 2017 when the Dalit-Thakur caste clashes took place in Saharanpur and he was named as one of the accused and later arrested. The Dalit leader has also been at the forefront of anti-CAA protests.
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