Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi April 19, 2008
The results of 5 by-elections in UP make it clear that only Mayawati counts here.
Apologies if this is blindingly obvious to everyone, but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is here to stay. If any proof was needed, the results of the UP by-elections declared earlier this week provide it. The BSP won all five — two Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats — wresting two from sitting incumbents. The Azamgarh and Khalilabad Lok Sabha seats were both held by it earlier. The Colonelganj Assembly seat was earlier held by the Congress. The BSP has won it this time. Murad Nagar was held by an Independent. The BSP has won that as well.
But what should worry both LK Advani and Sonia Gandhi is that in as many as four seats, the Congress and BJP candidates have lost their security deposits. This means in four seats, they were not even able to poll one-sixth of the total votes polled. In Muradnagar, this fate befell the Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee.
Although as a measure of abundant caution, the Congress chief in the state, Rita Bahuguna, had said before the election that she did not view it as a referendum of Congress popularity, the fact is that it must have come as quite a blow. The BJP wasn’t even talking of losing, so in that sense, it ends up looking even sillier than the Congress.
Basically, the by-elections tell us that in UP now, the number one and number two slots are occupied by the BSP and SP. The two biggest national parties, the Congress and the BJP, are so out of the reckoning, they can be ignored. They have become irrelevant to the politics of the state.
How has this come about? The seeds of the destruction of the Congress and the BJP lie in the immediate past, the Vidhan Sabha elections last year that brought Mayawati to power in UP.
If the SP improved its vote share by a miniscule percentage-share (0.8 per cent), Mayawati won essentially because of the annihilation of the BJP’s share of the vote. The upper castes willingly and enthusiastically joined her project of a “sarvajan samaj” (universal society), so traumatised they were from the law and order deterioration in UP and their targeting by the Yadavs.
Basically the upper castes decided they would vote for anyone who could end Mulayam Singh Yadav’s rule. He, in turn, got the reputation of an inefficient law-keeper because he packed the police force with his own caste, something Mayawati is now attempting to dismantle.
This set of by-elections was the first test of the loyalties of the upper castes: were they going to stick with Mayawati or return to the BJP ? The result is crystal clear — the upper castes have still not got over their heeby-jeebies at the prospect of the return of Mulayam Singh Yadav and will go with anyone who can defeat him, not unlike the Muslims who were in the grips of the same sort of thinking — their vote was available to anyone who could defeat the BJP.
For the upper castes in UP, neither the SP nor the Congress is capable of keeping Yadav at bay. Therefore, the same alliance that worked as a formula for Congress victory for years — upper castes-cum-Dalits — is now being leveraged by Mayawati. In her tenure as CM, she hasn’t put one foot wrong. She has, in fact, talked of economic backwardness as the criterion for reservation, not caste, something that can only come from deep-rooted confidence that her own community won’t see this as a sellout.
What does this mean in terms of UP’s regional politics? In the Vidhan Sabha elections, the biggest chunk of Mayawati’s vote came from western UP, the home of the vocal Jats but also of militant Jatavs (untouchables) and outspoken Muslims. With the Muslims already batting for her and voting along with Jatavs, the unity of the upper castes and Jats has no meaning. If anything, farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait’s anti-Dalit statements in a public rally, have consolidating the lower castes against the Jats. Anyone who consorts with the Jats has a snowflake’s chance in hell of getting the Dalit vote now.
True, no by-election was held in western UP this time. But Jats are anti-Congress by temperament and the BJP needed Tikait’s call for caste assertion at this point like a hole in the head. Because while Jat consolidation is a political blessing, its backlash represents the consolidation of anti-Jat forces, a development that can only bolster Mayawati’s chances.
Besides, so long as Ajit Singh was in alliance with the BJP, it was he who mopped up the Jat vote for it. Now he’s out and the BJP is neither getting the Jat vote in western UP nor the anti-Jat vote.
What this points to is obvious: in the Lok Sabha election, while the BSP and SP will fight for number one and two place, the Congress and BJP will vie for number three and four, a cheerless prospect from the point of view of government formation after the next Lok Sabha elections.
There is another factor that has begun to have a role in UP: personality factor. Today, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav have pledged to give their all to UP. But can you think of a single person in the Congress or BJP who has said: “I am dismayed at the way UP is being governed and I’m going to make UP my karmabhumi (centre). I don’t want a role in central politics, I’m renouncing that and am going to focus on making UP a better place to live in?”
Not one. Not Rahul Gandhi, not Murli Manohar Joshi, not LK Advani. So the UP vote naturally thinks, “Well, if we’re not good enough for you, then you’re not good enough for us”. And with 40 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 (or thereabouts) under her belt, it is Mayawati who will be among those to decide who President Pratibha Patil swears in as Prime Minister of India
Friday, April 18, 2008
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Maya bats for upper castes after SC verdict
New Delhi, April 10: Welcoming the Supreme Court decision on OBC quotas, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, on Thursday pitched for reservation for economically backward classes among upper castes and backward classes among religious minorities.
The BSP chief also demanded that the Centre should redefine the "creamy layer" in times of the rising rate of inflation and high cost of living.
She told media that "I will be writing to the central government to extend reservation to the economically weaker upper castes and backward classes among the religious minorities".
The Centre should make an amendment in the Constitutionto ensure such quotas and her Bahujan Samaj Party would support this move in Parliament, she said.
Terming the SC judgement as "historic and important", she demanded that the Centre should ensure implementation of the quotas in higher education institutes across the country.
States where such institutes cannot implement quotas, should be provided help to do the same, Mayawati said.
"We will ensure full implementation of the OBC reservation in higher educational institutions in UP," she said.
She also said, as far as the creamy layer is concerned, Centre should have a relook at the criteria for creamy layer in view of the rising cost of living so that no deserving person from OBC category is left out.
The BSP chief also demanded that the Centre should redefine the "creamy layer" in times of the rising rate of inflation and high cost of living.
She told media that "I will be writing to the central government to extend reservation to the economically weaker upper castes and backward classes among the religious minorities".
The Centre should make an amendment in the Constitutionto ensure such quotas and her Bahujan Samaj Party would support this move in Parliament, she said.
Terming the SC judgement as "historic and important", she demanded that the Centre should ensure implementation of the quotas in higher education institutes across the country.
States where such institutes cannot implement quotas, should be provided help to do the same, Mayawati said.
"We will ensure full implementation of the OBC reservation in higher educational institutions in UP," she said.
She also said, as far as the creamy layer is concerned, Centre should have a relook at the criteria for creamy layer in view of the rising cost of living so that no deserving person from OBC category is left out.
Mayawati emerging as a national powerbroker: Report
NEW YORK: In the week gone by, she has indirectly engaged in a verbal duel with young Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and sarcastically remarked that his meetings with Dalits or the socially underprivileged and backwards in Uttar Pradesh and in other parts of the country are followed by baths with scented soap.
But, if a first ever profile taken out by the Time magazine of her is anything to go by, there is no doubt that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, despite her low caste, is emerging as a national powerbroker, and may even be a potential Prime Minister of India.
At 52, the magazine opines that Mayawati is an image dripping with symbolism, with aides and civil servants fawning over her.
On January 15 this year, the image of mostly high-caste men feeding a Dalit (formerly "Untouchable") woman was an incredibly powerful one in a country where discrimination based on caste has been banned for more than half a century but where many of the old barriers and prejudices endure.
The Time quotes Chandra Bhan Prasad, a pioneering Dalit newspaper columnist as saying that: "If you've come from nothing and then make money, it's a very understandable psychological drive to want to openly spend it."
"There is still a feeling among many in the upper-caste Hindu élite that she's (Mayawati) not acceptable," he adds.
According to the magazine, Mayawati has made clear that "she will use her popularity there (in Uttar Pradesh) to become an important player on the national stage at the next general election."
Given the fractured nature of Indian politics, that poll, due by early 2009 at the latest, is unlikely to produce any single winner.
"If Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) can win 40 or 50 seats in the 552-member lower house -- a real possibility given that Uttar Pradesh's 110 million voters elect 80 of those members -- she would be well placed to decide which of India's two big parties, the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, should lead a new government, or perhaps even wangle the premiership for herself," says the magazine.
"The fact that Mayawati is seriously discussed as a possible next Prime Minister is evidence of how far she has come," the profile says.
From being one of nine children born to a low-level civil servant and an illiterate mother, Mayawati has used her street smarts and the affirmative-action programs designed to help India's downtrodden to study teaching and then law.
She joined the BSP in 1984 and, as the head of unstable coalitions, went on to become Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister for three brief stints before last year's breakout victory when the party won outright.
Mayawati's master stroke has been to reach out to Brahmins
"The difference with Congress is that they were using Dalits but keeping them on a bottom level, whereas we are all on an equal platform with a Dalit leader at the top," says Satish Chandra Mishra, the BSP's secretary general.
"That is getting a tremendous response around the country," he adds.
As far as her aspiration to be a nationally recognised leader is concerned, political analysts like Swapan Dasgupta believe that she has to overcome her abrasive and arbitrary style of functioning to make the grade.
The fact that she calls herself a "living goddess," and has ordered half a dozen statues of herself and is building a 100 million dollar park to commemorate BSP founder Kanshi Ram, may appeal to her supporters, but not to other people in Indian society.
To her critics, Mayawati's projection of Dalit power and wealth is "simply evidence of her vanity and opportunities for kickbacks."
Mayawati has "disproportionate assets." She herself has filed papers with election officials indicating she owns 72 properties and has 54 bank accounts.
Those records show Mayawati's wealth increased by more than 30 times over the past four years to 13 million dollars, a fact she puts down to generous supporters who have showered her with gifts of jewellery, art and cash.
Her aides say that the gifts are all fully recorded and accounted for, and stopped the moment she became Chief Minister.
In the past couple of months, as speculation has turned to the possibility of an early election, Mayawati has held a series of rallies around the country and has begun testing her political weight, perhaps to see how far she can go.
The magazine concludes by saying that on March 31, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi criticized Mayawati for not running Uttar Pradesh properly. Yet on her birthday, both she and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in China at the time, made sure to call her to wish her well.
"After all, they might need her support in a matter of months," it said.
But, if a first ever profile taken out by the Time magazine of her is anything to go by, there is no doubt that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, despite her low caste, is emerging as a national powerbroker, and may even be a potential Prime Minister of India.
At 52, the magazine opines that Mayawati is an image dripping with symbolism, with aides and civil servants fawning over her.
On January 15 this year, the image of mostly high-caste men feeding a Dalit (formerly "Untouchable") woman was an incredibly powerful one in a country where discrimination based on caste has been banned for more than half a century but where many of the old barriers and prejudices endure.
The Time quotes Chandra Bhan Prasad, a pioneering Dalit newspaper columnist as saying that: "If you've come from nothing and then make money, it's a very understandable psychological drive to want to openly spend it."
"There is still a feeling among many in the upper-caste Hindu élite that she's (Mayawati) not acceptable," he adds.
According to the magazine, Mayawati has made clear that "she will use her popularity there (in Uttar Pradesh) to become an important player on the national stage at the next general election."
Given the fractured nature of Indian politics, that poll, due by early 2009 at the latest, is unlikely to produce any single winner.
"If Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) can win 40 or 50 seats in the 552-member lower house -- a real possibility given that Uttar Pradesh's 110 million voters elect 80 of those members -- she would be well placed to decide which of India's two big parties, the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, should lead a new government, or perhaps even wangle the premiership for herself," says the magazine.
"The fact that Mayawati is seriously discussed as a possible next Prime Minister is evidence of how far she has come," the profile says.
From being one of nine children born to a low-level civil servant and an illiterate mother, Mayawati has used her street smarts and the affirmative-action programs designed to help India's downtrodden to study teaching and then law.
She joined the BSP in 1984 and, as the head of unstable coalitions, went on to become Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister for three brief stints before last year's breakout victory when the party won outright.
Mayawati's master stroke has been to reach out to Brahmins
"The difference with Congress is that they were using Dalits but keeping them on a bottom level, whereas we are all on an equal platform with a Dalit leader at the top," says Satish Chandra Mishra, the BSP's secretary general.
"That is getting a tremendous response around the country," he adds.
As far as her aspiration to be a nationally recognised leader is concerned, political analysts like Swapan Dasgupta believe that she has to overcome her abrasive and arbitrary style of functioning to make the grade.
The fact that she calls herself a "living goddess," and has ordered half a dozen statues of herself and is building a 100 million dollar park to commemorate BSP founder Kanshi Ram, may appeal to her supporters, but not to other people in Indian society.
To her critics, Mayawati's projection of Dalit power and wealth is "simply evidence of her vanity and opportunities for kickbacks."
Mayawati has "disproportionate assets." She herself has filed papers with election officials indicating she owns 72 properties and has 54 bank accounts.
Those records show Mayawati's wealth increased by more than 30 times over the past four years to 13 million dollars, a fact she puts down to generous supporters who have showered her with gifts of jewellery, art and cash.
Her aides say that the gifts are all fully recorded and accounted for, and stopped the moment she became Chief Minister.
In the past couple of months, as speculation has turned to the possibility of an early election, Mayawati has held a series of rallies around the country and has begun testing her political weight, perhaps to see how far she can go.
The magazine concludes by saying that on March 31, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi criticized Mayawati for not running Uttar Pradesh properly. Yet on her birthday, both she and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in China at the time, made sure to call her to wish her well.
"After all, they might need her support in a matter of months," it said.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
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