Miracle of Indian democracy, Mayawati breaks a 17-year jinx

Lucknow, May 11 (UNI) Dubbed the ''miracle of Indian democracy'' by former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1995, a Dalit benefactor and the 'one-woman army' leading the Bahujan Samaj Party, Mayawati today emerged as the new messiah of Brahmins.

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

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

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 character in the battle which unfolded in the assembly elections.

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

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

Over the last two decades, the state's politics has gifted Mayawati a unique political position in UP where Brahmins were effectively marginalised in politics and rendered leaderless. The BSP leader seized the opportunity and wooed Brahmins to cobble together a winnable formula of social coalition.

Mayawati, as the successive elections results have proved, has an unchallenged grip over Dalit votes. In the last election in UP, she garnered 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 goes to her credit that she is able to transfer her share of votes to any candidate 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' that in public meetings she has continually accepted that she takes money from Thakur-Brahmin candidates to run her party. In the last assembly elections in 2002, she gave a big chunk of BSP tickets to Thakurs. But Thakurs, who got elected on BSP tickets, were uncomfortable with 'Dalit politics' 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 a caste-ridden social structure where social prejudices and identities are at the very core of political action-reactions,'' said a political analyst.

An interesting scenario emerged in the election. Mayawati received undivided votes of Brahmins to make a significant impact in UP, while her arch rival Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav received a fractured mandate 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 image and the admiration of the people, but as was proved in the last few elections, her charisma simply doesn't translate into votes at the end of the day,'' said a political analyst, adding that '' and on the other hand Sonia Gandhi is unable to help her political allies win elections''.

Born on January 15, 1956, Mayawati graduated from Kalindi College in Delhi and further studied law at the University of Delhi. She worked as a teacher before junking plans to get into the IAS to embark on a political 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