Reverse shot: Can Maya’s resignation checkmate Modi’s Kovind card

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has transformed Indian politics into a game of chess. The primary rule of self-defence in a game of chess is to constantly engage the rival with offence to keep him running for cover through check moves. Modi is an expert player at keeping rivals engaged in self-defence.

Send a CBI team to a Chidambaram or a Lalu and the rival is busy defending himself rather than mounting an offence against the Modi government. It is Chanakyaniti as they call it. It is Sangh’s favourite tactic to unnerve its rivals.

But there are many other tactics of the game to unsettle a rival and not necessarily in chess alone. They play reverse sweep in cricket to unnerve the attack, for instance. The purpose of reverse sweep is to unsettle the rival when he is on the offence. Mayawati played her reverse sweep with finesse on the floor of Rajya Sabha on June 18, leaving the Modi establishment completely unnerved.

What she did is well reported. She basically wanted to speak about ‘’atrocities perpetrated upon Dalits, Muslims, backwards and poor” ever since the Modi government has taken charge. The Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha did not allow her to speak beyond three minutes as the House rule did not permit it. She took the stand if injustice done to Dalits and other weaker sections was not worth a discussion inside the Indian Parliament, she would better resign. And, she did that the same evening.

The BJP cried horse and charged Mayawati of playing politics to ‘retrieve lost ground among Dalits’. Indeed, she was playing politics. But what else does a politician do except to play politics? It is also true that she is attempting to revive her following amongst Dalits. Which politician does not try to shine among his followers? So, she has not committed any crime by quitting her Rajya Sabha seat as the BJP with obvious media support is trying to make out.

The basic question is: why did she time it now? After all, Mayawati is a seasoned politician. A four-time Chief Minister of the most populous Indian state must not have acted in a huff. She must have crafted her move with due political acumen at her command. But what forced her to quit a prestigious political forum like the upper house of Parliament now?

Mayawati has been under pressure from the Modi government for quite some time. First, she badly lost both the UP Lok Sabha and Assembly elections to the BJP in 2104 and 2017 respectively. It was not just the defeat for Mayawati. What disturbed her the most was the fact that her Dalit constituency that has stood by her party since early 1990s largely deserted her in the two elections. That is ominous for her.

Second, the Modi government leaked reports regarding her brother’s bank account wherein he allegedly transferred huge amounts during the first few months of demonetisation. It was a clear hint to desist her from joining Opposition ranks against the Modi government. She, like Lalu Parsad, did not buckle on this count and backed the Opposition candidates for the presidential and vice-presidential races. Yet, the politics of blackmail is, indeed, a matter of concern for Mayawati.

Third, Modi is now out to carve a Dalit following for himself. Placing Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, inside Rashtrapati Bhawan is a clear BJP move to wean away Dalits from leaders like Mayawati before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It must have been a bolt from the blue for Maya who was already looking for a cover.

So, Maya had to make a move and she did it with her resignation. Maya’s resignation is aimed at exposing Modi’s Dalit card that he is playing with Kovind. She has resigned claiming that she was not even allowed to speak about ‘’Dalit atrocities’’.

The focus is on ‘rising Dalit atrocities’’ which she is not permitted to speak about. Maya is playing the simple game: I am the one who is out to fight Dalit repression and not the Modi despite Kovind holding the highest office in the country. Her purpose is to convey to her constituency that Maya is the real Dalit messiah and not Modi.

Maya is clearly attempting to expose Modi’s politics of tokenism. Will she succeed? With incidents like those in Una and Saharanpur taking place in BJP-ruled states every other day, there is a clear chance of Mayawati reviving herself as a Dalit icon. But it will not be easy, given the system is out to woo the Dalits. She will have to go to her people and work hard like her late mentor Kanshi Ram to convert her reverse sweep into a boundary.