Mayawati’s games

Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has always played the political game with a certain ruthlessness. The announcement she made on Friday agreeing to the formation of the separate states of Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh to be carved out of India's largest state Uttar Pradesh, followed by the offer for the creation of Poorvanchal by the additional chief secretary in the state government on Sunday, is just a quick move to stump her main rival, the Congress party. If pressed to explain, one of her aides - she does not waste much time in thinking out ideas - may argue for the virtues of smaller states. But she is not bothered. She is focused on the power stakes. The cavalier declaration about splitting the state is to be seen as a tactical move rather than an expression of principled intent.

There is not much disagreement about the need to slice backward and troublesome UP into governable slices. Mayawati herself admitted that the state is too big to administer. It is not hard to guess that she has others things on her mind. She is thinking a few steps ahead of the Congress, which wants to use the credible image of party general secretary and the Nehru-Gandhi scion, Rahul, to put the party in the saddle of power once again.

Congress has not been in power in the state for more than a decade.

During the 2007 state assembly election, Congress leader and minister Kapil Sibal had described it as the 14 years of exile for the Congress, trying to give it the Ramayana resonance where Lord Ram is away from Ayodhya for the same period. The Congress did not make much headway then. It has performed creditably well in this summer's Lok Sabha election. This has given hope to the Congress leaders in the state of recapturing power in Lucknow.

By asking for the splitting of the state, Mayawati is daring the Congress, which is heading the coalition government at the Centre. It is difficult for anyone to envisage the political fallout of Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal. It is sure to throw up new power and caste equations which dumb-witted and slow-footed Congress can never hope to master. Will Mayawati stand to gain from this? She may not whatever the caste arithmetic she may work out. That does not deter her because she feels that what is crucial is an aggressive approach more than anything else. She understands the advantages of mind games.