ONCE a poster girl for Dalits, Behenji as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is known as, seems to have lost her ‘midas touch’.

At least, the 2017 elections results have reflected so.

Despite fighting the election on the poll plank of providing a Goondagardi-free governance in the state (with an obvious reference to the outgoing Samajwadi Party’s government), BSP was only able to win 20 seats as compared to 60 which her party had won in 2012 elections.

So what went wrong this time? While the BSP has always staked its claim on the Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh, this time around, there was no connect with the voters on the ground. Her campaigning rhetoric was all about criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Akhilesh Yadav-Rahul Gandhi tie-up.

Poll observers believe she failed to gauge other key factors such as employment opportunities for the youth. Perhaps, BSP failed to understand that even Dalit youth too want employment and educational opportunities apart from just the caste card.

Another failure on BSP’s part was the old style campaigning. All this while, the BJP was busy in adapting to new tools of campaigning such as social media etc, Mayawati stuck to her old ways of campaigning, giving technology and its advantages a complete miss.

Thus, she visibly failed to establish a lively connect with the young voters.

Mayawati kept harping on the old tunes of Dalit politics. Many Dalit youths, who attended her rallies, averred that despite their elders supporting Mayawati in the past, they will support whoever promises them development and jobs.

Modi cashed in on their aspirations and the same was very evident in all his campaigning and election rallies which connected with the youth.

Nevertheless, with Maywati losing her voter base as was evident in previous two elections as well as now, could this be the end of the road for her political career?

—By arrangement with ANN / The Statesman

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017