Manjari MishraIt was a roadside sign welcoming visitors to Ghatrauli in Saharanpur district that catapulted the blink- and -miss hamlet onto the national spotlight over a decade ago. What exactly caught public eye was hard to tell — the unusual words “Great Chamar welcomes you to Ghadkauli”, or the young man standing beside the sign, donning dark aviators, bleached bright fitted shirt , with a natty royal blue scarf snaked around his shoulders, staring insolently into the camera. Spunky, smart alecky, saucy — Chandrashekhar Azad is all that and much more. Founder of Bhim Army, chief of the Azad Samaj Party and now MP from Nagina, the 39 -year-old has perfected the art of blending hard-edged Ambedkarite rhetoric with political theatre.Nothing about this master provocateur seems to be accidental — especially the swaggering gait, the well-choreographed body language of an action hero or the punchy dialogue delivery cleverly designed to fuel adrenaline and project an image of a born rebel. As his ambitions sore beyond Nagina, the self-styled ‘Neela-Baaj’ (blue hawk) has his eyes trained on the upcoming electoral battlefield in UP. Also beyond it as far as Delhi where in its trademark brazen show of political machismo, the ASP chief proposes to hold a “massive public rally” on Dalit reservation.Azad’s political trajectory has been equally eventful. After experiencing caste discrimination as a student, he emerged as a local activist advocating for Dalit rights. In 2014, he and three associates co-founded the Bhim Army, a pressure group aimed at empowering marginalised communities through education and self-defence training. Initially, the organisation had a limited presence. Then came the billboard.Soon, the young activist from Saharanpur became a recognised face across western UP. The timing proved crucial. The BSP was reeling from its disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, its traditional support base appeared unsettled and the aura surrounding party supremo Mayawati seemed diminished. Sensing an opportunity, Azad intensified efforts to strengthen his grassroots presence and expand the Bhim Army’s reach beyond western UP.The defining moment came in 2017 during the Saharanpur caste violence involving Dalits and Thakurs. Azad and several associates were arrested on charges related to incitement and later jailed. His 16 months in prison, including the final months under the National Security Act, earned him significant attention and sympathy among sections of Dalit youth. Recognising the political potential of that support, he launched his own party.The date was carefully chosen: April 14, Ambedkar Jayanti. The symbolism was unmistakable. Azad sought to position himself as a new-generation claimant to the political legacy of B.R. Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram.Politics, however, proved more challenging than activism. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the ASP fielded 111 candidates. Azad himself contested the Gorakhpur Urban seat, the political stronghold of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The result was decisive. He secured only 7,640 votes and suffered a heavy defeat.Undeterred, Azad returned to the political arena in 2024, contesting the Nagina parliamentary constituency as an independent candidate. This time, he confounded sceptics. In a constituency with a substantial Muslim population, a sizable Dalit base and significant OBC representation, Azad successfully stitched together a broad social coalition. The strategy worked. He won convincingly, transforming himself from a street agitator into a parliamentarian.
