| 'BSP has now moved towards Sarvajan Samaj' | |
| Q&A: CP Singh | | Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi November 16, 2008, 0:57 IST | |
 The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will form the government in Delhi even if it wins only 10 seats, Delhi BSP Vice-President CP Singh tells SREELATHA MENON
You have increased your presence in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Do you expect to win seats in the Assembly election?
When we took part in the MCD election three years ago, we had just one councillor. We held 750 meetings and got 17 seats. Two more councillors from the BJP joined the party later. So, now we have 19 councillors. Mayawati did not come to Delhi even once for the MCD election.
How many meetings is Mayawati expected to attend in this election?
Four or five.
Will you be representing other castes, as you have done in Uttar Pradesh?
We have moved from Bahujan Samaj to Sarvajan Samaj. You look at our party nominations for Delhi. Though we were initially called a party for the Chamar caste, you will find that we have fielded just two persons from that caste in the 12 reserved constituencies. The other seats are for Khati, Dhobi, Bhairwa, Gehra and Jatavs. We have kept 11 seats for Brahmins, eight for Baniyas, and one each for Christians, South Indians, and for people from Purvanchal and Uttaranchal, all important segments of Delhi.
What about Muslims?
We have given 20 tickets to OBCs (other backward castes) and another 27 to Muslims.
You have hardly tried to reach out to the educated classes and totally keep away from the media
Those who understand our mission will work and vote for us. Our mission is to make the voter the ruler of this country. The media represent the affluent sections and we don’t trust them. Here our strategy, like elsewhere, is direct contact. Social engineering is our strong point. We form brotherhood committees at booth, block, district and state levels that have members from the main communities. These members reach out to their community and each member is able to fetch us a minimum of 5,000 votes. So count the booths, the blocks and the districts and you will know the number of votes we expect.
What is your expectation?
We expect 40 seats and we will form the next government in Delhi.
In case you win less, who will you choose as your partner?
That will be decided later. But remember that even if we win 10 seats we will form the government.
How is that?
To form a government you need at least 36 seats. So in an Assembly of 70 seats, we can prevent both the BJP and the Congress from reaching that mark. They will need our help.
Who are some of your star candidates?
We have advocate Rajiv Singh against Sheila Dikshit, Haji Kamluddin against BJP’s Harshvardhan, Father Solomon George in Model Town, singer Daler Mehedi’s brother Shamsher Singh Mehedi in Rajouri Garden
How many women got tickets?
Two.
Why only two when your leader is a woman?
Women in backward castes have not had the benefit of education. Other parties will take advantage of this and defeat our candidates. In any case, even when women are fielded, it is the men who run the show. So, it is a shame.
Why can’t the party find women who are empowered and educated in various communities?
What we believe is that if there is development, it will help all. If there is a road it will not be used only by the Dalits, It will be there for all. And what Behen Mayawati is doing in Uttar Pradesh for development will take her to the Guinness Book. She is already in the Forbes list of most powerful women.
Since when have you been with the party?
I was an engineer in the Delhi municipal corporation for 18 years till I resigned this year. I was also the coordinator of BAMSEF, the all-India Dalit government employees outfit that was the spine of the party across the country.
What do you think of the Delhi government?
The government wants to build a Paris here and has no place for rickshaws, colonies and Biharis. Sheila Dikshit feels that they pollute Delhi. Only their votes are legitimate, not them.
How will a BSP government look at the Commonwealth Games?
That is a national agenda. But we feel the selection of the site was flawed. It is painful that in a city where most powerful people live, and where something like an Akshardham temple came up on the river bed, no one is concerned that the poorest people living in slums don’t even have ten feet of land to make a hut.
What would you do?
We will go by the master plan and make multi-storey buildings around the city with civic amenities to end the housing shortage. This is what will make the city Paris, not sweeping out the poor from their homes. The BSP believes in “jaha jhopda wahin makan’’ or zero displacement strategy for development.
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