Mayawati Has Lessons For Madhesi, Janajati, Dalit, Mahila

Mayawati's stunning victory in Utter Pradesh is vastly inspirational. That has to be replicated by the oppressed in Nepal. The closest thing to a Mayawati we have in Nepal is Chitralekha Yadav.

Upendra Yadav is also very promising. Chitralekha Yadav is not the rebel that Upendra Yadav is. But then she has been Speaker. She is highly intelligent. She has a proven track record of electoral victories. And she was the only prominent Madhesi leader to talk protectively of the MJF after the Gaur incident.

I wish the Madhesis in all Pahadi parties would abandon their respective parties and come join the MJF. Let's become the largest party of the future Madhesh state.

Om Gurung and Pasang Sherpa are also impressive, but one thing that I don't understand about these Janajati leaders is as to why they do not want to launch a political party of their own. Their entire grievance is that the Bahuns have been oppressing them. But then their entire strategy is to beg liberty and rights from those same Bahuns. That is not a winning strategy. They have to realize that the source of their empowerment are not going to be the Bahuns. They themselves have what it takes. And for that they need a political party of their own.

Adibasi Janajati Mahasangh is a beautiful name for a politcal party just like Madhesi Janadhikar Forum is. Keep the name, get registered. We will form an alliance in the constituent assembly after the elections.

The Janajati leaders have not done their homework. They need a map to stand by. You can't be for federalism unless you have a map. Otherwise what is the difference between the anti-federalism Bahuns and you? They don't have a map either.

And we have to secure completely proportional elections to the constituent assembly.

In The News

Low-Caste Politician Wins India Vote Washington Post Mayawati, a fiery 51-year-old woman who goes by one name, was set to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a vast, poor state that encompasses more than 180 million people and often sets the political agenda for the rest of the country. .... 403 seats in the state assembly ..... won 202 seats, enough to form a government without a coalition ...... Mayawati forged a powerful coalition that brought together low-caste and Brahmin voters and candidates to force out Mulayam Singh Yadav .... The next national elections are due in 2009.
Low-caste Politician Wins India Vote Guardian Unlimited, UK
Low-caste politician wins India vote Boston Globe, MA
Low-caste politician sweeps to power in India's largest state San Diego Union Tribune, CA
Low-caste politician wins India vote China Daily, China
Art of reinvention Hindustan Times, India In a rare television interview, much before her stunning victory in Uttar Pradesh left everyone gawking, Mayawati did not even blink before answering. Yes, she wanted to be Prime Minister, and yes, she could see herself ensconced at Race Course road, within the next ten years. ..... the 51-year old will be content in the knowledge that India’s next President can’t be chosen without her assent. ..... the writing on the wall: Caste matters just as much as it always did, but it is both malleable and dynamic. ....... Mayawati’s elephant .... If, in the past, it was an angry animal that was ready to trample all over the hint of any prejudice, this time it was unveiled as the friendly, generous, beloved Ganesha, who could embrace believers across the divide. ....... the future of India will be driven by regional players and identity politics, with castes, religions and ethnicities locked in a competitive battle for assertion ..... Perhaps, the Congress routs in Punjab and Uttarakhand gave the BJP a misplaced sense of confidence. The UP results show there is no national wave, one way or the other. ...... The Muslim voter remains smart, strategic and entirely unmoved by simple rhetoric. ....... Like everyone else, India’s Muslim voters like a winner. ..... The firebrand can afford to mellow down.
It's nothing but Maya in UP Times of India, India 206 seats in a House of 403 ...... Samajwadi Party came a distant second at 97 seats while BJP folded up at 50 ..... Defying pollsters and political analysts, UP delivered its first unambiguous verdict since 1991. The deadlock-breaking vote puts an end to more than a decade of hung Houses, rag-tag governments punctuated by Central rule and in the process herald the emergence of Mayawati a Delhi University graduate and a former government school teacher, as a key arbiter on the national stage and the first Dalit leader to wrest power on her own steam. .... UP has broken its jinx of serving a "mili-juli sarkar" at every election since 1993. ..... the state which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, but the BSP tsunami has ominous portents for national players like BJP and Congress. ...... the caste being trumped by the common intent to unseat Mulayam . ...... her gambit to pitch for upper-caste support by fielding 86 Brahmins paid handsome dividends ...... her exceptional success in weaving together a rainbow coalition of Dalits, upper castes and Muslims that had once sustained Congress. ..... Now UP's Dalits, particularly the assertive Jatavs, who are the engine of this social alliance, have the upper castes playing a supporting caste.
BSP win a sweetener for sugar mills Business Standard, India
Governor Arnold too busy to help Paris Hilton China Daily
Mayawati storms to power in Uttar Pradesh Hindu, India clinching an absolute majority on her own ending 14 years of coalition politics. ...... will assume reins of power for the fourth time. ..... fought the polls this time without any allies ...... The party had secured 99 seats in 2002 elections. ...... Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav ..... His Samajwadi Party suffered severe losses, winning 97 seats, coming down drastically from 143 in 2002. ..... Mayawati gave tickets to 138 upper caste candidates, including 86 Brahmins and a large number of Muslims and OBCs, besides 93 Dalits. ....... Popularly known as 'Behenji', Mayawati, who did not contest the elections, single handedly demolished rival bastions and proved wrong all pollsters who had projected a hung assembly. ......... At least 15 ministerial colleagues of Yadav bit the dust while several senior BJP leaders, including its state unit President Kesri Nath Tripathi, lost. ...... Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari won from Mau
BSP's victory is the triumph of the party's ideology: Mayawati Mayawati said, people had risen above caste and religion to vote for the BSP. ...... Mayawati paid tribute to her mentor and BSP founder Kanshi Ram and architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar
BSP Govt will root out corruption and criminalisation ".... I thank them along with the Bahujan Samaj voters (dalits)." ...... She said Samajwadi Party's "mafia, terror and jungle-raj" in the State has been defeated and described the win as her party's support to rule of law.
All illegal acts of SP Govt to be probed: Mayawati
BSP Maharashtra unit to honour Mayawati
BSP victory a boon for Congress in presidential polls
Maya pips Mulayam, grabs UP throne Economic Times, India The results sparked off victory celebrations by tens of thousands of BSP supporters across the state ..... In the Taj Mahal city of Agra, a BSP stronghold, supporters took to the streets beating drums, showering flowers and distributing sweets. ...... The BSP sweep, all the way from Noida on New Delhi's outskirts to Ballia in Uttar Pradesh's eastern fringe bordering Nepal, simply drowned the Samajwadi Party ....... The elections also decimated the newly formed Apna Dal, a party based on the Kurmi community support base, as well as the Jan Morcha of Raj Babbar, the Bollywood actor-cum-politician who quit the Samajwadi Party in disgust about three years ago. ....... even after nearly five hours of vote count ..... was closeted at her heavily guarded residence with her aides. She did not meet the media to outline her plans. ...... Mayawati has vowed to send Mualayam Singh Yadav, his Man Friday Amar Singh and Raja Bhaiyya to jail on charges of corruption and criminality if she forms a government. ..... Today, the Congress has become an also-ran in Uttar Pradesh, rapidly conceding space to BSP, BJP and Samajwadi Party.
Fair poll brings 1 party majority in UP deletion of 22 lakhs entries of dead voters and 34 lakhs of shifted voters ...... it was found that in many districts female voters were discriminated against with a lot of reluctance on the part of the families in registering them ...... a new category of voters - people whose names were in the electoral rolls but who had migrated elsewhere in search of livelihood while their families stayed back ..... 85 lakh voters constituting 7.5% of the total electorate ....... its long duration extending to nearly 34 days from the first date of poll to the date of counting. ........ 100% coverage of all polling stations with Central Para Military Forces (CPMF). The phase-wise grouping of constituencies was prepared using GIS software to match the requirement and availability of forces.
Mayawati's social remix turns out to be a hit in UP her strategy that is seen by political observers as one of the biggest attempts at social engineering in recent years ..... Casting aside her 'anti-Manuvadi' stance, her pet theme against upper castes, Mayawati ensured substantial number of tickets to Brahmins and also others while keeping her dalit votebank intact. ..... The BSP which earlier used to proclaim "tilak, taraju aur talwar, maro unko jhoote char" (beat up Brahmins, Vaishyas and Kshatriyas) changed the tune completely. ...... The new slogan "Haati nahin Ganesh hai. Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai" (it is not elephant but Lord Ganesh, symbolising all gods and communities)
UP trails other states in most economic indicators: Panel The state has the lowest percentage of electrified villages and is second lowest in terms of per capita power consumption.
Uttar Pradesh heads for hung assembly Reuters India, India
BSP to get up to 168 seats in UP: Survey Times of India, India

In The News

रोस्ट्रम नघेर्न एमालेको हि्वप Kantipur झन्डै एक महिनाको गतिरोधपछि दलको कायार् लय सिंहदरबारमा बिहीबार बसेको बैठकले तराई आन्दोलनको नेतृत्व गलत व्यक्तिहरूले गरिरहेको ठहर गर्दै एमालेले सांसदहरूलाई सचेत गराएको हो । तराई र अन्य क्ष्ाेत्रका समस्यालाई 'स्वतन्त्र र उपयुुक्त तरिकाले' उठाउन निर्देशन दिँदै सदनको गतिरोधबाट केही भ्रष्ट र नाजायज तत्त्वले अनुुचित फाइदा उठाउन खो जेको पार्टीको विश्लेषण छ । .... यसअघि तराईको प्रतिनिधित्व गर्ने २६ सांसदले क्ष्ाेत्र निर्धारण आयोगका सिफारिस खारेजी, नयाँ जनगणनालगायत माग संयुुक्त रूपमा गरेका थिए । तराईका केही एमाले सांसदहरूले मागमा हस्ताक्ष्ार गरे पनि रोस्ट्रम घेराउ र नाराबाजीमा भने सहभागी भएका छैनन् । एमाले महासचिव माधवकुुमार नेपालले तराईका हिंसात्मक गतिविधि र नाजायज क्रियाकलापको सबैले प्रस्ट शब्दमा निन्दा गनर्ुुपर्ने बताए । 'हामीले उठाएका जायज मागको फाइदा गलत तत्त्वलाई उठाउन दिनुुहुुन्न,' उनले भने । ..... तराईमा बिग्रँदो शान्तिसुुरक्षा, अपहरण, लुुटपाट र आगजनीका घटना नियन्त्रण नगरी सरकारले तमासा हेरिरहेको आरोप उनले लगाए । 'आफ्नो ठाउँमा सयौं वर्षदेखि बसेकालाई लखेट्दा सरकार मौन बसेको छ,' उनले भने । ...... आठ दलको एकताको मूल्यमा वामपन्थी एकता हुुँदैन ..... एमाले सांसद महेन्द्रप्रसाद यादवले पार्टीले निर्देशन दिए पनि मधेसको हकहितका लागि रोस्ट्रम घेर्ने बताएका छन् । .... 'पार्टी नेताहरूले संसदीय व्यवस्थामा रोस्ट्रम घेर्नुु राम्रो नभएकाले नघेर्न भनेका छन् । तर हामीलाई त्यो मान्य छैन,' उनले बिहीबार कान्तिपुुरसँग भने- 'पार्टीले कि मधेसका मुुद्दा ठीक छैन भन्न सक्नुुपर्‍यो । मुुद्दा ठीक भनेपछि रोस्ट्रम घेराउको विरोध गनर्ुुको अर्थ छैन ।' उनले आउँदो ३१ गते एमालेका १२ मधेसी सांसदले रोस्ट्रम घेर्ने दाबी गरे ।
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