Can a Dalit sit in Indian prime minister's chair?

If a dalit wants to sit in Indian Prime Minister's chair, he or she should first reborn as a bed bug and get into in that chair, said a noted economist in Kerala.

Caste discrimination in India has been horrible to this date. Oppressed sections in India were always kept out from the highest echelons of power. In the past 50 years and more, if you see the political parties, Prime Ministers and their policies you will understand the current plight of Dalits, tribals and other Backward castes in India.

Indian politics is going through a major transformation now. A Dalit, that too woman is now nourishing her dreams of sitting in India's prime minister's chair

Mayawati is positioning herself to become India's first Prime Minister who is a Dalit, a member of the low-caste grouping who were once referred to as "untouchables' in this country. She will emerge as the prime ministerial candidate if the third front gets majority in the upcoming lok sabha elections.

The fact that Mayawati is seriously discussed as a possible next Prime Minister is evidence of how far she has come. Born one of nine children to a low-level civil servant and an illiterate mother, Mayawati used her street smarts and the affirmative-action programs designed to help India's downtrodden to study teaching and then law.

She joined the BSP in 1984 and, as the head of unstable coalitions, went on to become Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister for three brief stints before last year's breakout victory when the party won outright.

Mayawati's path to Indian prime ministership is not exactly rosy. She will need that organization to mobilize Dalit votes in states outside northern India where her party isn't traditionally strong. She'll get help from her new friends, an odd lot of parties ranging from Marxists to the Babu's who are backers of Hyderabad's high-tech economy.

She will also have to fight the 'elite' media here, who criticise her for everthing.

All kinds of allegations have been made against her. The media criticised her for everything. It disparaged her lifestyle, her birthday celebrations, her clothes, her short hair, the lack of a bindi on her forehead and what not.

This clearly exposes caste and racist psychology of Indian media that dalits should not celebrate birthdays, should not wear diamonds, should not share the joyous moments in the society. This was the law of manusmruti which was the constitution for more than 3000 years.

Mayawati becoming the Indian Prime Minister is more thrilling than that of Barack Obama becoming the President of the United States, as she combines in herself Obama's black slavery and Hillary Clinton's femaleness. Let us wait for the day when she sits on that coveted chair.

OneIndia News