Monday

Behenji Mayawati set to become the Prime minister of India

“On her arrival Behenji will bring shade”  - a BSP worker in Maharashtra attending a rally held on an open ground in summer.

A hung parliament again. The result of the Indian national election 2009 is a foregone conclusion. An interesting scenario will be a climb down in performance for the ruling United Progressive Alliance led by the dynastic Congress party and the National Democratic Alliance led by the communal Bharathiya Janata Party to the extent of two digits of MP seats.

A simple majority of 272 is required to form the government in the Indian Parliament which has a total of 543 MP seats. The Congress party won just 145 seats and the BJP just 138 seats in the last election. The Congress party was able to form the current government in 2004 with the support of allies in UPA. But after five years, both UPA and NDA have lost their allies. Therefore it will not be a surprise, if these two major political parties win less than 100 seats each.

In a pathetic situation to claim third and fourth position, Congress party and BJP are highlighting hate speech of immature Varun Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India with 80 parliamentary seats. They both are still resorting to the old tactic of diverting attention of the people from real issues. This is the place where Behanji Mayawati is ruling like a queen with simple majority won on her own in the assembly elections of 2007. And according to latest projections Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will win around 40 MP seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. And her expanding influence in the neighboring states will bring her more numbers.

Mayawati is said to be the highest income-tax payer among all politicians in India paying Rs. 26 crore for year 2007-08. Coming from a Dalit family, Mayawati made her way to the seat of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state of India.

Mayawati has already contacted Left Parties, JD Secular, Telugu Desam and many more regional players who either endorse her ambition for the post of Prime Minister or show no aversion to this idea. Considering this support base, Mayawati already enjoys the backing of about 130 MPs in the current parliament itself, very close to the individual scores of 145 and 138 of Congress and BJP respectively.

In this era of alliance politics and coalition governance, there is a fluid circumstance wherein the viscosity of a minor political party is very low and it can gravitate naturally towards any major winner to get a share of power throwing away the so called policies.

It is only a matter of time that Behenji collects more brothers such as Nitish kumar or Lallu, Sharath Pawar, Naveen Patnaik, Karunanithi and small fence sitters like PMK, in the post poll situation. (The sisters like Mamtha and Jayalalitha still hold their secrets close to their heart )

However alarmed at the possibility of Mayawati becoming the prime minister, both Congress and BJP have initiated a game plan. Both these major parties have plans that in the event of formation of a Non BJP Non Congress ( NBNC) government with the support of any one of these major parties, they will press to have a Prime minister of their choice only. As a preparation the BJP projects Jayalalitha and Congress projects Pawar for the top job. If Mayawati is sidelined by such arrangements, India should be prepared for another puppet show.

Such manipulations may not hold long since the BSP is emerging as the third largest party at national level commanding support across the country.

Political observers are calling Behenji as a Barack Obama in making for India. But the BSP workers laugh at it and say that she became a Chief Minister of the most populous state of India beating many parties well before the American elections and therefore only Barack obama should be called as “Mayawati of America”.

This reality makes the media to telecast shrill cries against Behenji and our print media is still not ready to come to terms with the phenomenon called Mayawati who has been profiled by the US magazine Newsweek as among eight women leaders worldwide who have reached the top despite all odds.

The pro establishment forces always raise doubts about her elevation and they say that the BSP leader’s appeal can be said to be limited, since the preference of a sizeable section of the population is for an urbane PM conversant with the intricacies of the economy and international affairs. This argument fails considering the track records of the past sophisticated prime ministers in economy and international affairs. (What is left unsaid is that they want a puppet Prime Minister to guard their shares in the market and not a leader of poor)

Her opponents with tainted image argue that Mayawati is corrupt in Taj corridor case conveniently forgetting that Indira Gandhi was accused in Nagarwala case and Rajiv Gandhi was charged in Bofors scandal

The commentators are asking why she is openly declaring her ambition as Prime Minister candidate instead of coming with policies and manifestoes. It is open secret that many politicians aspire to be Prime Minister but are not sincere and confident in admitting their ambition. There could be no hiding of the nature that a cat should love to dish on fish.

The fundamentalists who celebrate birthdays of many gods unnecessarily taking thousands of idols in processsion, point out that Mayawati is lavish in celebrating birthdays and erecting her own statues. But see, the same people are convenient with Jayalalitha who was known for erecting giant cut outs of her own image and conducting extravagant marriage of her foster son.

And the status quoists are the most concerned about the elevation of Mayawati as the Prime Minister of India. We need not discuss the reasons since they are obvious. The very queuing of rich business houses such as Tatas and Ambanis and expression of their wishes to make Narendra Modi as Prime minister can tell the rest of the story.

Our Behenji is speaking for the poor and therefore she will not get anything from the rich. She is demanding neither money nor votes from the rich. She has earned the love of the poor. India is a vibrant democracy where a farmer in a remote corner of Uttar Pradesh and the likes of Tatas and Ambanis are having a vote each and are equal at least on the day of election. By numbers, poor outnumber the rich by many fold – thanks to the past inefficient rule of Congress, BJP and disgruntled alliances.

If the money power, caste calculations and the fundamentalist designs in the post poll arrangements succeed in preventing Mayawati in 2009, Behenji after improving her chances in 2009 shall become the Prime Minister of India in 2014. Yes, she is set to be the Prime Minister now or later.

This is not a forecast but a confirmation of her qualities. Behenji has demonstrated her Courage of beating a political opponent , implemented Sharing of political power to all communities, shown her Wisdom of following the footsteps of Dr. Ambedkar, the champion of downtrodden, and possess the Energy to lead this country and what else is expected to become a ruler?

These four unfailing mark a ruler:
Courage, Sharing, Wisdom and Energy.

– ThiruValluvar 382

Written by Malarthamil 

Malarthamil is a civil engineer and writer-poet inspired by Thirukkural – a classical Tamil poetry that expounds various aspects of life.