Dalit woman emerges electoral winner in India's largest State
by Staff
May 14, 2007
INDIA (ANS) -- Even as India is celebrating the 150 years of the first revolt of independence against the British in 1857 the lady called as Sister Mayawati is to become Chief Minister in India's largest state- Uttar Pradesh (UP). This is the state that has traditionally given India most of her Prime Ministers. In what is possibly one of the most intriguing elections in recent Indian history, Mayawati's party, the Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP (translated-the party of the majority community of the oppressed castes), won an absolute majority in India's largest state-Uttar Pradesh with a population of about 170 million people.
While analysts try to make sense of the election result, everyone agrees that Mayawati cleverly took the majority of the Dalit votes in the State along with good sections of the Muslim and the Brahmin votes. Her strategy lay in reaching out to the Brahmins, whom she earlier had attacked fiercely as the perpetrators of the caste system, but now lay marginalized with the completely caste driven politics of UP. The Backward Caste 'Yadav' vote largely went to the runner up party, the Samajwadi Party (SP) which ruled UP for the past few years.
Even though Brahmin politicians ruled the State for nearly 45 years, it is in the wake of the caste churning and caste politics in UP of the last 15 years that the ruling Brahmin castes have been marginalized politically as their caste percentage in UP is that of a minority. It is a curious twist of history that the Dalit leader offered the Brahmins some honor while at the same time offering development and prosperity to the Dalits and other oppressed groups.
The media has often lampooned Mayawati for her imperious style, luxurious living, extravagant spending, and as a politician who would ally with any party to get to political power. Earlier, her party members have deserted her to join other parties due to the lure of power and money. She now has 5 years to keep her flock together and govern one of India's most complex states where law and order has become a huge problem. UP is the state where the 30 children were kidnapped, abused and killed recently. The media also criticized her in the past for supporting the Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of the Gujarat carnage. At that time, she was firmly aligned with the Barantya Janata Party (BJP).
Whatever her politics, Sister Mayawati has a tremendous opportunity to address the educational needs of Dalits, to ensure justice for Dalits where caste-discrimination is still going on in UP, to invest in a globalized English-medium education for Dalits, to give Dalit Christians their due in her State, and maintain religious freedom in the State of UP for the next five years. UP and Bihar are the two large Hindi states in north India where there is religious freedom. She has promised development for the downtrodden. She must go some distance in delivering on her promises to the people if she wants to fulfill her stated dream of becoming the Prime Minister of India one day.
The Dalit Freedom Network's mission is to partner with the Dalits (India's Untouchables) in their quest for religious freedom, social justice, and human dignity by mobilizing human, informational, and financial resources. Their website is: www.dalitnetwork.org
© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission.
