It is a famous saying that politics is the last resort for scoundrels. Indian polity post-independence has witnessed many such occasions in which these words were manifested as they are. Staunch opponents have become close friends. These close friends have become partners in both crime and power. Then such partners have been separated again to become opponents, only to join hands together in an existential threat by some yet bigger common opponent.
With regional parties emerging as a force in the seventies and eighties, this became the political norm. The decade of the nineties was a decade of churn which raised the bargaining power of such regional parties and hence the escalation of political drama in the same decade. Pre-poll and post-poll alliances of staunch opponents kept the surprise element alive while occasional mayhems between party workers or even leaders became a new normal. With the advent of electronic media, in the next decade, the documentation of such events became yet easier but that is not exactly what we are focussing on in this case. Basically, it has been 27 years since an incident in the history of Uttar Pradesh’s politics that has gone ahead to define the course of political twists and turns in the years that followed the incident.
We are talking about the ‘guest house scandal‘ that took place on 2nd of June 1995 in room number 1 of the state guest house situated on the Meerabai road of Lucknow, when some goons of the Samajwadi Party including a few elected representatives had assaulted BSP leader Mayawati for withdrawing support from the then SP-BSP joint state government of the Uttar Pradesh headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder, and president of Samajwadi Party.
It was as recent as April 2019 when the people of Uttar Pradesh had seen Mayawati and Mulayam Singh praising each other in a public meeting at Mainpuri for the campaign of the then general elections which they had fought together against BJP. Therefore it is essential to recap the history of the political relations between SP and BSP which keep shuttling between the opposite poles of ‘affectionate’ partnership and opportunistic hatred. Because even if the leaders call it a past to forget, people of Uttar Pradesh can still remember the incident as it happened.
What was the ‘guest house scandal’?
It was the decade of the nineties. Ram Mandir Andolan, for the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, was at its peak. Mandal commission had ensured that cast-centric political parties get more mileage than the OBCs get equal opportunities. One such beneficiary of the scheme was Mulaymsingh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. Uttar Pradesh already had a political party that claimed to be the representative of the backward casts. And with BJP being in power at the time of the Babri Mosque demolition incident aka Karseva that took place on 6th December 1992, it had become the urge of the so-called secular politics to join hands to resist the tide that could possibly hit them the most.
Eventually, in 1993, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP and Kanshi Ram’s BSP formed an alliance to stop the BJP. The natural slogan for the alliance was ‘Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram, Hawa me ud gaye Jay Shri Ram’ which means as Mulayam and Kanshi Ram are together now, those who say ‘Jai Shriram’ are bound to lose. And notably, it was not Uttar Pradesh as we see it today. It was Uttar Pradesh plus Uttarakhand. It was an assembly of 422 seats.
SP fielded its candidates on 256 seats, while BSP got its share of 164 seats. The alliance clinched the victory and agreed to share the CM post for two and half years each. SP being the bigger party, claimed its right the first and Mulayam Singh Yadav became the chief minister of the largest state which was also known as the mini parliament. SP got 109 seats and BSP got 67 seats in the assembly. Due to estrangement, on June 2, 1995, BSP announced the withdrawal of support and the Mulayam Singh Yadav government fell flat on its face.
Room No. 1 of the State Guest House at Meerabai Marg, Lucknow was Mayawati’s residence at that time. SP MLAs were angry as their government became a minority in the house. Enraged SP MLAs along with their supporters and goons reached Mayawati’s place of stay. Mayawati, who was sitting in the room with her MLAs, was first surrounded and then assaulted by the goons. By three o’clock in the afternoon, the leaders of the Samajwadi Party had taken full control of that room.
The leaders of the Samajwadi Party were shouting and abusing Mayawati. When the BSP MLAs tried to stop them, they started lashing out at them. 5 BSP MLAs were dragged to the Chief Minister’s residence by car. After beating, many of the BSP MLAs were made to sign on blank paper. They were kept captive throughout the night. Senior BSP leader RK Chaudhary was assaulted. Somehow he got locked safe in a room. Barring a few policemen, the entire police and administration were with the SP.
The electricity and water supply of the guest house was cut and the then Lucknow SSP was smoking cigarettes comfortably. There was a threat cum warning of the Chief Minister’s Office that force should not be used. When the District Magistrate opposed it, he was transferred in the middle of the night. This was the incident that made Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav each other’s enemies. The matter was settled only after the intervention of the BJP and the Central Government. Mayawati and her fellow leaders were not ready to leave the room, in such a situation, they had to be assured again and again that the danger was averted.
BJP MLA Brahm Dutt Dwivedi: The Sanghi who saved Mayawati
Today, to oppose the BJP, Samajwadi Party talked a lot about Dalits and their welfare. What it comfortably forgets is that in 1995 it was a Dalit woman leader with whom its MLAs and goons ha had assaulted and terrorised. SP goons had beaten up Mayawati and even torn her clothes. A woman was openly molested in broad daylight right in front of dozens of SP leaders. Mayawati was kept locked in a room.
One must not forget that Samajwadi Party’s prime voter base was Yadavs and Muslims. Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav have iterated many times that they are the descendants of Lord Shri Krishna. It was Shri Krishna who saved Draupadi’s dignity in the royal court of Kurus. His self-proclaimed descendants seem to have forgotten that MLAs of their very own party along with their goons molested a prominent woman politician in the government guest house of the state capital.
The BJP MLA from the Farrukhabad constituency, Brahmadutt Dwivedi reached the guest house, barged into the place surrounded by SP goons and had saved Mayawati’s life. Brahm Dutt Dwivedi, with the image of a domineering leader, forced the leaders and workers of SP to retreat. After this incident, Mayawati started considering him as her brother and BSP never fielded its candidates against him.
Brahm Dutt Dwivedi was a Swayamsevak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and he was very well trained in lathi at Sangh shakhas. He was also a well-trained fighter which is why he directly took on the goons and saved Mayawati. He used his fighting skills at the proper time to save the dignity of the woman leader. It must be noted that Mayawati used to rally against BJP, but it was Brahm Dutt Dwivedi for whom she even campaigned. “Tilak Taraju aur Talwar, Inko Maaro Jute Char” was her party’s slogan which meant that Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas must be beaten up with one’s shoes. But Brahm Dutt Dwivedi was a Brahmin she considered her brother and remained thankful to.
Brahm Dutt Dwivedi was assassinated on February 10, 1997. The name of gangster Sanjeev Maheshwari and former SP MLA Vijay Singh was revealed in this murder case. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the matter is now pending in the Supreme Court. Mayawati wept bitterly after this assassination. Brahm Dutt Dwivedi had exceptional leadership qualities. He had been an elected MLA from the Farrrukhabad constituency in 1977 and 1985. After that, he had made a winning hattrick from the same seat in 1991, 1993, and 1996. In 1997, he and his guard Brijkishor Tiwari, both were killed.
After his murder, the BJP gave the ticket of his constituency to his wife Prabha Dwivedi. Mayawati rallied and campaigned for Prabha Dwivedi and appealed to people to vote for her, she called Brahm Dutt Dwivedi a ‘martyr’. In 2017, the BJP gave the ticket of Farrukhabad constituency to Brahm Dutt Dwivedi’s son Major Sunil Dwivedi. Winning from this seat, he became an MLA. Brahm Dutt Dwivedi who was very active in the Ram Janm Bhumi Andolan had entered into electoral politics in 1971 when he was elected as a corporator from ward number six of Farrukhabad municipality. It was the bravery that he had shown while saving Mayawati from the SP goons that turned into a political revenge game that took a toll on his life.
Mayawati and Mulayam came together after 24 years of the guest house scandal
The guesthouse scandal is still considered as one of the worst episodes of law and order situation in the state. In this case, 3 cases were registered against Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, senior SP leader Dhaniram Verma, Mohammad Azam Khan, and Beni Prasad Verma at Hazratganj police station in Lucknow. Many photographs were presented as evidence. CBI and CID both the agencies inquired and investigated the case. Governments kept on changing and this case kept on getting longer. But, in 2019, when both the leaders came together to stop the ‘Modi wave’, Mayawati withdrew these cases.
Did this help in any way to either of the parties? Not exactly as expected. BSP had zero seats in the 2014 general elections. In 2019, it reached a mark of 10. SP remained on the same number of seats as earlier that is five. Despite their alliance, BJP took away 62 seats. As a result, the SP-BSP alliance, which was popularly called as Bua Babua alliance, was broken. In October 2020, Babua Akhilesh Yadav betrayed Bua Mayawati and got 7 BSP MLAs into his party.
The guest house is also remembered for the way anti-Dalit slogans were raised amidst the ruckus at the guest house. The Charmakar caste was abused by the SP goons while attacking her and her MLAs. The goons kept saying that the Charmakars have gone mad and they ‘must be taught a lesson’. ‘Drag that c#a$@r b!tch out of the room’ were the exact words they used to abuse Mayawati. After this, Mayawati’s government was formed with the support of the BJP. It formed a committee and entrusted it with the investigation. Charge sheets were also filed against 74 people.
But this is politics. When it comes to fighting a common enemy who is an existential threat to both the parties, even the enemies become friends, though with expected benefits. Likewise in 2019, the two parties came together and as a result, Mayawati withdrew the cases. What remains intact in the public memory, on this backdrop of opportunistic politics by both the aggressor and the victim is the values and bravery of a ‘Sanghi’ Brahm Dutt Dwivedi and his courage.
He went on to make rivals to save a woman leader who opposed his party BJP then and still continue to do so. Political opportunism and prioritisation of desire for power may have made Mayawati team up with the same people who had assaulted her, but the guest house incident is a story that remains etched in the memory of UP’s public.
