Miracle of demo, Mayawati breaks 17-year jinx

Lucknow, May 11: Dubbed the ''miracle of Indian democracy'' byformer Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1995, a Dalit benefactor andthe 'one-woman army' leading the Bahujan Samaj Party, Mayawati todayemerged as the new messiah of Brahmins.

The ''miracle'' worked wonders as the Uttar Pradesh assemblyresults indicated, with the BSP poised to win a simple majority on itsown, becoming the first party to achieve this since the 1990 elections.

Mayawati, who took over as Chief Minister for the first time onJune 2, 1995 soon after the coalition with the Samajwadi Party brokedown and the infamous state guest house incident when the SP-led goonstried to assault her ensued, never looked back once she had the feel ofthe corridors of power. And during the last 12 years, she has held theoffice of Chief Minister thrice and is once again ready to don themantle.

In the present scenario with her unique ''social engineering''formula where she gave tickets to as many as 136 upper caste nominees,including 86 Brahmins, the BSP supremo is the most intriguing characterin the battle which unfolded in the assembly elections.

In the past, slogans like ''Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwar, unko marojute char ('Brahmins, traders and the warrior caste should be given akick') used to be the mantra of electoral success when the late KanshiRam, her mentor and the founder of BSP, took his movement to theeconomically poor and socially disadvantaged Dalits, who were gropingin the dark in search of a leader and a political party.

Behenji, as Mayawati is known among her cadres, is aone-woman-army leading the BSP but this time she found a new slogan --Brahmin Shankh Bajaega, Hathi Badhta Jaega (Brahmin will blow the conchand the elephant (BSP symbol) will make giant strides).

Over the last two decades, the state's politics has giftedMayawati a unique political position in UP where Brahmins wereeffectively marginalised in politics and rendered leaderless. The BSPleader seized the opportunity and wooed Brahmins to cobble together awinnable formula of social coalition.

Mayawati, as the successive elections results have proved, has anunchallenged grip over Dalit votes. In the last election in UP, shegarnered 98 seats out of 403 seats with 23 per cent of the vote share.In UP, Dalits make up around 21 per cent of the electorate and it goesto her credit that she is able to transfer her share of votes to anycandidate or party she chooses and that too at her price. As a result,paradoxically, she is able to give nominations to non-Dalit candidates.

Mayawati is so confident about the loyalty of her 'vote bank' thatin public meetings she has continually accepted that she takes moneyfrom Thakur-Brahmin candidates to run her party. In the last assemblyelections in 2002, she gave a big chunk of BSP tickets to Thakurs. ButThakurs, who got elected on BSP tickets, were uncomfortable with 'Dalitpolitics' and deserted her party and most joined the SP.

For the first time, she has given tickets to so many Brahmins.

''This may seem audacious, but it is indeed unprecedented in acaste-ridden social structure where social prejudices and identitiesare at the very core of political action-reactions,'' said a politicalanalyst.

An interesting scenario emerged in the election. Mayawati receivedundivided votes of Brahmins to make a significant impact in UP, whileher arch rival Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav received a fracturedmandate of Muslim votes but continued to retain the Yadav votebank.

She has 'transferable votes' -- unlike even Sonia Gandhi.

''The Congress president is a crowd puller and enjoys a good imageand the admiration of the people, but as was proved in the last fewelections, her charisma simply doesn't translate into votes at the endof the day,'' said a political analyst, adding that '' and on the otherhand Sonia Gandhi is unable to help her political allies winelections''.

Born on January 15, 1956, Mayawati graduated from Kalindi Collegein Delhi and further studied law at the University of Delhi. She workedas a teacher before junking plans to get into the IAS to embark on apolitical career under the patronage of Kanshi Ram.

The BSP founder had assured her that this would lead to her one day having lots of District Magistrates under her authority.

She entered Parliament for the first time in 1989, by winning the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat in the general elections that year.

UNI