The most vibrant political expression of the Dalit movement has been in Uttar Pradesh, where Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s support, enjoyed three short stints as chief minister, between 1995 and 2003. Four years later, she scripted an astonishing electoral majority of her own. Then began Mayawati’s decline: From 30.46 per cent of votes in 2007, the BSP slipped to a vote share of 22.23 per cent in the 2017 state Assembly elections.

As Uttar Pradesh prepares to elect its new Assembly, the BSP appears lagging far behind the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. One school of thought says the BJP has exploited its control over the media to pitch the battle for Uttar Pradesh as one between Chief Minister Adityanath and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav. Since the SP is viewed as soft on Muslims, the BJP will find it easy to communally polarise the electorate—and, therefore, win the state, so the argument goes.