Aparita

The Toronto Star

Dalit leader hopes to be politically `untouchable.’ Her UP supporters call her ‘daughter of the land.’

 

APARITA BHANDARI

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

 

It’s all high drama and low politics when it comes to the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

And standing at its helm is Mayawati, chief minister of the state known as UP and a woman whose single name has become synonymous with controversy.

“I’m not one of those chief ministers who come and just make announcements,” Mayawati told a gathering of select Indo-Canadians at an Indian restaurant in Markham during a recent visit to promote investment opportunities in UP.

“I repeat. I’m not an announcements minister. I do what I say.”

It’s a tone expected of her - immensely confident, just shy of arrogant.

Then again, Mayawati does rule over India’s largest state, with a population of nearly 170 million people. She’s also the first Dalit chief minister to head a state government.

Dalit refers to a community of the downtrodden on the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy of the Hindus. Formerly known as “untouchables,” they’re also referred to as the “scheduled caste.”

Mayawati made history in 1995, not only because she was a Dalit but also because, at age 39, she was the youngest politician ever to be elected chief minister.

That leadership stint lasted only four months, but she returned in 1997 for a term that lasted six months.

After assembly elections in February, 2002, she was back on top as her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) formed a state coalition government with the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party, which also leads India’s coalition national government.

Mayawati’s political career began in 1977, when she was recruited by BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
One of nine siblings, she earned two graduate degrees and was planning a career in the Indian bureaucracy when Ram heard her speak at a national debate competition and convinced her to take a shot at politics.

In her debate performance, Mayawati had argued Gandhi’s use of the word harijan (God’s children) was demeaning to Dalits.

It’s a viewpoint to which she still adheres.

“All I said was that, when the constitution has ascribed the name `scheduled caste’ and `scheduled tribe’ to our people, Gandhi wasn’t doing us a favour by calling us God’s children,” she explains in Hindi while taking a breather at a downtown Toronto hotel.

“We’re not orphans. And if we are God’s children, who are the others? Devil’s children?”

It’s the sort of rhetoric that draws cheers from her Dalit supporters, who form one-quarter of the population of UP, as well as from other social and religious minorities in India.

Still, in the rough-and-tumble world of Indian politics, Mayawati says she’s being picked on because she’s a Dalit.

But such is her stronghold that her lavish 47th birthday party, thrown at the state’s expense in January, drew sharp criticism only from her critics.

“(Former Indian prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday is still celebrated as Children’s Day by the (national) government,” bristles Mayawati, who wore a diamond necklace worth about $1 million to the gala affair.

“Because he was from an upper-caste community, there was no problem. But when I, a schedule caste girl, the chief minister of India’s largest state, want to celebrate my birthday as Self-Respect Day, because I instilled self-respect in the lower-caste community, it becomes a problem.

“This is the caste-ism we are struggling against. It’s the upper-caste people and opposition party’s people who create these situations. When I respond to these allegations, my community gets even more self-confident. So, it works for me - my vote bank increases.”

Caste-based politics has become increasingly important in India and is being skilfully used by a new breed of politicians. Oxford-educated leaders who once formed political dynasties such as the Congress party have been replaced by leaders who speak the local lingo and propose to work for their “community’s interests.”

Although UP is one of the poorest Indian states and Mayawati’s critics point out she hasn’t addressed basic issues such as the primary education system, she maintains that UP’s flagging fortunes have turned around since she came to power.

“The law-and-order situation is completely under control,” she says. “We’ve allotted funds for the welfare of the lower castes and religious minorities. We constructed roads between villages, chose 13,000 villages and took care of their basic needs, such as water and electricity. We’ve distributed government land among the weaker section (of people) for agriculture.

“The state’s economic situation was bad before I came to power. In one year, my government has managed to collect record-breaking revenues. And it’s only when we get revenues that we can allot money for these policies.

And that, she stresses, is the reason for the 16-day junket that brought her to Toronto and other centres with strong expatriate Indian populations.

The “invest-in-UP” program seeks private investment from the non-resident Indian community, with the government playing a supervisory role.

The plan is representative of Mayawati’s political acumen.

Having constructed a highway and planning to build two international airports and embark on other major projects, she uses the mantra of “job creation” and a revitalized state economy that benefits all strata of society.

Add this mantra to Mayawati’s image as a “daughter of the land,” and you’ve got a vote-winning phenomenon, despite allegations that she’s a corrupt and cutthroat politician.

It’s also the reason for uneasy political marriages like the one partnering Mayawati’s BSP and the Hindu nationalist party.

Coalition-building might come into play again when India goes to general elections next year, but Mayawati says the trend won’t last long.

“Until now, the balance of power has been with the upper-caste parties, so we need to make alliances with them.

“But the common man has had a political and social awakening. They’ll vote for the parties who work for them. No one can stop us from forming a government in the centre.”

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