The march of the 'Blue' Elephant

Fact is stranger than fiction and sometimes it defies all odd. And when we talk about the recent UP election it could not get stranger. Defying all calculations, mis-calculations, opinion polls and expert views Mayawatiâs elephant crushed the cycle, the Lotus and pushed the cycle off the road and for the first time in 16 years was able to make a single party government in the eccentric politics of Uttar Pradesh.

Not long ago it was being said that Bahujan Samajwadi party will never be able to come out of its own shadow. The untimely death of its founder and mentor Kanshi Ram nearly sealed the fate of BSP as the political pundits thought.

The importance of strengthening the district and town level organization and ground political structure was evident, as BSP san any charismatic leader and a crowd puller managed to outweigh Amitabh Bachhan, the two Jaya's and even the Gandhi siblings and comfortably romped home.

A BJP media functionary who was actively involved in UP elections said that the BJP never expected Mayawati to give so much impetus in the form of tickets to Brahmins and to the Upper caste and not even in their wildest dream did they saw the Brahmins and the Thakurs joining BSPs.

Perhaps BJPs thinking is justified because not long ago Mayawati would begin her rally with the slogan "Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, inko maro jutey char" (Brahmin, businessmen and the upper caste deserve a severe lambasting.) This time Mayawati like a seasoned politician should, ignored the caste equation and inclination towards the backward caste and walked into the CM house flanked by three of her most trusted lieutenants who were a Brahmin, a Thakur and a Muslim.

The OBCs and the SCs voters were always with BSP and by pulling section of upper castes with her, Mayawati got the thrust that pushed her towards the CM chair; this is the fourth time she will be assuming this responsibility. Although people close to the BSP supremo said that even Mayawati was not expecting this kind of emphatic victory.

The common result that was being forecasted in the political corridors of Uttar Pradesh was a strong possibility of a hung assembly which fortunately did not happen.

In her first post CM press conference, Mayawati donning her lucky Pink colored suit thanked the upper caste and the Brahmins and quite unlike the old Behanji also thanked the Media which was quite surprising considering her reluctance towards the media.

She also in absolute straight words advocated reservation for the weaker sections of the Upper caste. Only Mayawati knows how serious she is about providing reservations to the weaker sections of the upper caste, but one thing is sure that this statement of hers has opened another interesting chapter in the already controversial topic of reservations.

The mother of all assembly elections, the UP election is a very important, prestigious event for the political parties. Not surprising if one considers the fact that Uttar Pradesh assembly has the largest number of assembly seats of 403. After the UP election result, Mayawati says will assumes even more importance on who will the next President of India.

This time Rahul Gandhi, the would be future PM of India as projected by Congress was seen as the main protagonist who would decide on which side the balance will tilt. In the previous UP elections, Mandal, Kamandal and Ayodhya used to be the decisive factor. This time it was Rahul.

The young MP was showered lavish love in the form of huge crowd that would converge at his election rallies, but success still eluded the young Gandhi as the huge crowd refused to transform into votes. Neither Priyanka nor his mother Sonia Gandhi or for that matter even Lalu yadav were able to help Rahul in his quest for an improbable miracle.

Rahul Gandhi who was de-facto in charge of Uttar Pradesh Congress strategy had selected 50% of the candidates for the election and yet Congress lost. Perhaps the MP from Amethi needs to learn more of Indian ground politics which cannot be learnt by the so called 'whirlwind tours'.

BJP too did not fare well. Rajnath Singh who had everything to lose and to gain in UP tried to play safe by allotting tickets to the incumbent members, a move which was resented by Kalyan Singh.

Lack of coordination between the leaders at the Centre and the State, and the yet again clash in egos of Advani and Atal proved too much for the already weak Uttar Pradesh BJP. The infamous CD which nearly threatened BJPs existence as a political party did more harm than good for the saffron party and increased the already huge divide between the minorities and BJP.

The BJP was simply not able to decide that what was more important, Ayodhya, raising voice against minority appeasement or the OBC factor. As a result it was not able to concentrate on any of the issues on which it could have gained some advantage from its rivals. Its not a deep secret that the BJP needs a serious over hauling and infusion of young blood in the form of bringing leaders like Modi onto the national screen but the parochial band is still playing on.

The party may lose couple of years in the restructuring but couple of years is a better option than a complete oblivion.

Mulayam Singh Yadav can come out with any number of excuse and reasons yet it needs to accept that it was lawlessness and lack of visible development which resulted in loss of confidence and faith on the part of the voters .

Nithari was one episode which has hurt Mulayam more than he ever contemplated. The apathy on the part of the administration and the insensitiveness shown by Mulayam himself did not go down well with the mass and it showed in the form of the below par performance of Samajwadi party.

Now it remains to be seen that how Mayawati governs the state which is facing a serious power crunch, and a pathetic state of lawlessness. Mulayam had a powerful friend circle in the likes of Anil Ambani, Subroto Roy and party general secretary Amar singh who were capable of fishing him out of any financial crisis. This is something that Maywati does not have.

Will Mayawati go for settling political vendetta or focuses on BSP (Bijli, Sadak ,Pani) and make Uttar Pradesh a 'Uttam Pradesh" is something which only time will tell. Fingures are crossed and lets not forget that an election is never far in UP.