12-06-2004, 01:08 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Stooping to Conquer</b>
As Mayawati welcomes Brahmins into her essentially Dalit fold and blames a lawyer for her party's electoral disaster in Maharashtra, India Today's Farzand Ahmed looks at the changing contour of the Bahujan Samaj Party and its compulsions.
WEB EXCLUSIVE FEATURE
http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20041129/web2.shtml
Mayawati narrowly escaped from the judicial dragnet in connection with the much-talked-about Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) scam but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo is nervous. Understandably so as she is yet to recover from the after-shocks of the recent Maharashtra assembly polls.
Weeks after the Supreme Court delinked <b>her "world of wealth", estimated at Rs 350 crore</b>, from the THC controversy, Mayawati filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court holding former Uttar Pradesh Standing Counsel Ajay Agrawal responsible for the complete rout of her party. "Agrawal succeeded in causing irreparable damage to considerable votes of the BSP which drifted from it to other political parties causing damage and doubts in the eyes of public at large and especially the innocent and uneducated public," the affidavit said.
Agrawal had highlighted the THC controversy and then challenged the Allahabad High Court's blanket stay on Maywati's arrest in connection with the THC case. Later, during the polls he along with All India Republican Party leader Ram Das Athawale had held a press conference in Nagpur highlighting corruption. An anguished Mayawati in her counter-affidavit said "he (Agrawal) was indulging in all sorts of publicity stunts to defame and malign Mayawati who is a respected national leader".
The counter-affidavit blaming the former standing counsel coincided with murmurs within the BSP over the style of Mayawati's functioning. At a workers' rally in Lucknow recently, Mayawati offered a bouquet to Satish Chandra Mishra, a former advocate-general, who was earlier appointed national general secretary of the party. Not just this, she also publicly expressed her gratitude to him for conducting her corruption-related case sincerely and efficiently. <b>None among the cadre believed that Mayawati could offer a bouquet to anyone publicly, not least a Brahmin.</b>
Those who know her say that Mayawati seemed to have undergone a metamorphosis especially after the THC case surfaced and her resignation from the post of the chief minister. Mayawati reportedly does not allow anyone to sit on a chair nor raise any questions during inner party meetings. All party members are expected to sit on the floor during the meeting while Mayawati sits on a "throne-like chair" mounted on a high pedestal. Humiliated and hurt, several leaders and workers had left the BSP on this count. Mayawati, on her part, countered such moves by waging her "85 per cent bahujan vs 15 per cent upper castes" war which helped her expand her socio-political base in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. This ensured that her party was a force to reckon with.
Now, a BSP MLA alleges that that the party has become a "Manuvadi" party like the Congress or BJP where only the Brahmins or upper caste leaders dominate. Observers point out that a Brahmin (Mishra) has occupied the No: 2 position in a party formed to champion the cause of the Bahujans. Though Mayawati's aides argue that by honouring Mishra, a Brahmin, she had sent a message to all that those who sincerely and honestly worked for the party would be honoured and rewarded, few are convinced.
For Mayawati though, there were other underlying reasons to "honour" Mishra. When the THC controversy broke out, it was Mishra who had advised her to resign and who had given the case a political twist. She was so impressed by his advice and his ability to contest her case in the court that she immediately got him elected to the Rajya Sabha and named him as national general secretary. When speculation arose about her likely arrest by the CBI, she declared that even if she was jailed, Mishra would continue handling her case. Sure enough, Mishra bailed her out.
Having won her confidence, Mishra became the first Brahmin in the history of the BSP tp occupy the No. 2 position and also serve as member of all the three decision-making bodies --Election Committee, National Executive and Central Committee.
Mishra's rise to power within the organisation is also being seen as part of Mayawati's strategy to widen her party's social base. To achieve this, she is said to have even forgotten her famous slogan <b>"Tilak (Brahmin), Tarazu (Bania) aur Talwar (Thakurs), Inko maro chuta chaar"</b> and instead started befriending them. In the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, she allotted tickets to six Brahmins, five Thakurs and three Bhumihars. In other states, she put up 435 candidates of whom 135 were backward castes, 39 upper castes and 55 Muslims. Likewise, in the state assembly polls in 2002, she had fielded 91 upper caste candidates, including 37 Brahmins and 36 Thakurs.
Leaders like R.K. Choudhary, however, who had rebelled against Mayawati and formed the BS-4 (Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sangharsh Samiti) on the pattern of Kanshi Ram's DS-4, are not surprised with Mayawati's latest moves. "When Lord Buddha challenged the Brahnimical orders Brahmins quickly declared him as a Bhagwan neutralized his philosophy and movement," goes one historical analogy.
Choudhary also says that at a time when the BSP started championing the cause of Bahujans forcefully, she succumbed to the temptation of the "birthday culture" and started receiving precious gifts. Since the upper castes were in a better position to please her in this regard, they managed to capture the party which was formed against them.
<b>Lost in her world of wealth, Mayawati did not realise that it was the Thakurs, Brahmins and Muslim leaders who were the first to desert her</b> when Mulayam Singh Yadav formed his government. In all, 37 BSP MLAs, including 19 Thakurs, four Brahmins and nine Muslim MLAs walked out of the BSP and formed the Loktantrik BSP which aligned with Mulayam.
Yet, unmindful of such developments she had announced that if she was jailed in connection with THC case, Gandhi Azad, a Rajya Sabha member belonging to the Backward Class would succeed her. This was another surprise for the Dalit cadre. After the High Court granted her anticipatory bail, she made Azad incharge of South Indian states. <b>With a Brahmin and a backward at the helm along with her, it is little wonder that there is so much talk about the Mayawati brand of Manuvad.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> No word about 350 Crores fortune and how it helped dalits, from the so called "Dalit Savers", but hatered spews forth!! Media ofcourse peddling in the <b>"legalized upper caste hatred"</b>, that is quite unique to India - Legalized Hatred.
As Mayawati welcomes Brahmins into her essentially Dalit fold and blames a lawyer for her party's electoral disaster in Maharashtra, India Today's Farzand Ahmed looks at the changing contour of the Bahujan Samaj Party and its compulsions.
WEB EXCLUSIVE FEATURE
http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20041129/web2.shtml
Mayawati narrowly escaped from the judicial dragnet in connection with the much-talked-about Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) scam but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo is nervous. Understandably so as she is yet to recover from the after-shocks of the recent Maharashtra assembly polls.
Weeks after the Supreme Court delinked <b>her "world of wealth", estimated at Rs 350 crore</b>, from the THC controversy, Mayawati filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court holding former Uttar Pradesh Standing Counsel Ajay Agrawal responsible for the complete rout of her party. "Agrawal succeeded in causing irreparable damage to considerable votes of the BSP which drifted from it to other political parties causing damage and doubts in the eyes of public at large and especially the innocent and uneducated public," the affidavit said.
Agrawal had highlighted the THC controversy and then challenged the Allahabad High Court's blanket stay on Maywati's arrest in connection with the THC case. Later, during the polls he along with All India Republican Party leader Ram Das Athawale had held a press conference in Nagpur highlighting corruption. An anguished Mayawati in her counter-affidavit said "he (Agrawal) was indulging in all sorts of publicity stunts to defame and malign Mayawati who is a respected national leader".
The counter-affidavit blaming the former standing counsel coincided with murmurs within the BSP over the style of Mayawati's functioning. At a workers' rally in Lucknow recently, Mayawati offered a bouquet to Satish Chandra Mishra, a former advocate-general, who was earlier appointed national general secretary of the party. Not just this, she also publicly expressed her gratitude to him for conducting her corruption-related case sincerely and efficiently. <b>None among the cadre believed that Mayawati could offer a bouquet to anyone publicly, not least a Brahmin.</b>
Those who know her say that Mayawati seemed to have undergone a metamorphosis especially after the THC case surfaced and her resignation from the post of the chief minister. Mayawati reportedly does not allow anyone to sit on a chair nor raise any questions during inner party meetings. All party members are expected to sit on the floor during the meeting while Mayawati sits on a "throne-like chair" mounted on a high pedestal. Humiliated and hurt, several leaders and workers had left the BSP on this count. Mayawati, on her part, countered such moves by waging her "85 per cent bahujan vs 15 per cent upper castes" war which helped her expand her socio-political base in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. This ensured that her party was a force to reckon with.
Now, a BSP MLA alleges that that the party has become a "Manuvadi" party like the Congress or BJP where only the Brahmins or upper caste leaders dominate. Observers point out that a Brahmin (Mishra) has occupied the No: 2 position in a party formed to champion the cause of the Bahujans. Though Mayawati's aides argue that by honouring Mishra, a Brahmin, she had sent a message to all that those who sincerely and honestly worked for the party would be honoured and rewarded, few are convinced.
For Mayawati though, there were other underlying reasons to "honour" Mishra. When the THC controversy broke out, it was Mishra who had advised her to resign and who had given the case a political twist. She was so impressed by his advice and his ability to contest her case in the court that she immediately got him elected to the Rajya Sabha and named him as national general secretary. When speculation arose about her likely arrest by the CBI, she declared that even if she was jailed, Mishra would continue handling her case. Sure enough, Mishra bailed her out.
Having won her confidence, Mishra became the first Brahmin in the history of the BSP tp occupy the No. 2 position and also serve as member of all the three decision-making bodies --Election Committee, National Executive and Central Committee.
Mishra's rise to power within the organisation is also being seen as part of Mayawati's strategy to widen her party's social base. To achieve this, she is said to have even forgotten her famous slogan <b>"Tilak (Brahmin), Tarazu (Bania) aur Talwar (Thakurs), Inko maro chuta chaar"</b> and instead started befriending them. In the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, she allotted tickets to six Brahmins, five Thakurs and three Bhumihars. In other states, she put up 435 candidates of whom 135 were backward castes, 39 upper castes and 55 Muslims. Likewise, in the state assembly polls in 2002, she had fielded 91 upper caste candidates, including 37 Brahmins and 36 Thakurs.
Leaders like R.K. Choudhary, however, who had rebelled against Mayawati and formed the BS-4 (Bahujan Samaj Swabhiman Sangharsh Samiti) on the pattern of Kanshi Ram's DS-4, are not surprised with Mayawati's latest moves. "When Lord Buddha challenged the Brahnimical orders Brahmins quickly declared him as a Bhagwan neutralized his philosophy and movement," goes one historical analogy.
Choudhary also says that at a time when the BSP started championing the cause of Bahujans forcefully, she succumbed to the temptation of the "birthday culture" and started receiving precious gifts. Since the upper castes were in a better position to please her in this regard, they managed to capture the party which was formed against them.
<b>Lost in her world of wealth, Mayawati did not realise that it was the Thakurs, Brahmins and Muslim leaders who were the first to desert her</b> when Mulayam Singh Yadav formed his government. In all, 37 BSP MLAs, including 19 Thakurs, four Brahmins and nine Muslim MLAs walked out of the BSP and formed the Loktantrik BSP which aligned with Mulayam.
Yet, unmindful of such developments she had announced that if she was jailed in connection with THC case, Gandhi Azad, a Rajya Sabha member belonging to the Backward Class would succeed her. This was another surprise for the Dalit cadre. After the High Court granted her anticipatory bail, she made Azad incharge of South Indian states. <b>With a Brahmin and a backward at the helm along with her, it is little wonder that there is so much talk about the Mayawati brand of Manuvad.</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> No word about 350 Crores fortune and how it helped dalits, from the so called "Dalit Savers", but hatered spews forth!! Media ofcourse peddling in the <b>"legalized upper caste hatred"</b>, that is quite unique to India - Legalized Hatred.