Mayawati is India's Barack Obama: Newsweek

New York, Apr 19: Mayawati, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo features on the cover of the US weekly Newsweek's latest edition. The weekly also compares BSP chief and US president Barack Obama regarding their rise to political heights though belonging to the lowest level of the social ladder.

But the Newsweek with Maya's photo on its cover design said the BSP supremo is a 'bigger underdog' and a 'bigger threat to the established order than Obama was. The weekly analysed that if Maya became the Prime Minister of India it would 'ironically end up bolstering the caste system that has kept Dalits in chains'.

"Her supporters are trying to position her as India's answer to America's youthful black president," the weekly said.

But the US magazine also predicted that BSP winning majority seats in the Parliament were unlikely though it will play a larger role in coalition. However there are similarities between Mayawati and Obama. Like the first Afro-American President, Maya is young, just 53 in a country where most political leaders are in their 70s.

OneIndia News