The Dalit vote is not a monolith despite the BSP
Who will the Dalits vote for in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections? The question is being asked by many for two reasons: One, the hold of Dalit-led parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party in the North, the Republican Party of India in Maharashtra, and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in Tamil Nadu has weakened substantially, and two, mainstream political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are aggressively courting Dalit voters. The so-called Dalit vote may get divided among various national parties. Even as a sizable number of Dalits could vote for the BJP in the North, votes in the South could get divided between the Congress, the BJP and regional parties. A section of analysts said this was done under pressure from the BJP, but Mayawati and the BSP have been consciously avoiding trenchant attacks against other parties and social sections for decades now because the party understands that it can’t come to power solely with Dalit support.
Opinion: The fight for Ambedkar's legacy signifies a big churn in Dalit politics
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