The woman who would be queen

It is commonplace to say that we get the leaders we deserve, but what have Dalits done to deserve Mayawati?

After centuries of oppression brought about by a caste system which forced them to live as outcasts, after hundreds of years of deprivation which gave them the most degrading of jobs with no possibility of any improvement, after decades of malnutrition and deadening illiteracy, the least they deserved was someone who fought real battles on their behalf. Instead, they got Mayawati, who fights battles only for herself using them as a shield to protect herself and who has shed neither blood, sweat nor tears for them (all she has shed is her second name).

A recent survey by a television channel brought out some astonishing results.  Well over 80 per cent of those asked the question in UP were opposed to Mayawati putting up her own statues. That’s as you would expect. But when Dalits were asked the same question, over 60 per cent found nothing wrong. Astonishing?  Only at first glance.

It’s easy for us who are educated and informed and have access to erudite opinions and analysis to forget that there is a huge mass of people at the bottom of the pyramid who react by emotion rather than reason. If this weren’t so, we wouldn’t have history-sheeters, dons and other assorted criminals as well as those who are openly corrupt and incompetent, winning election after election all over the country.

In that sense, the Dalit mindset is no different from that of the average Bihari who elected Lalu Yadav and his kin in spite of their known connection with one scam or another.  This mind-set welcomes any sign that “one of their kind” has done well in life.

The means are not as important as the end, which is to enrich yourself materially, because that is proof that you have come out best in the struggle against an unjust society.

This mindset will also welcome all manifestations of defiance against the elite which has traditionally been the oppressor. Erecting statues to oneself (and, therefore, one of their own kind) is a thumb stuck in open defiance in society’s face. The burning down of the house of Rita Bahuguna Joshi is a similar sign; in any case, how often have upper castes burned down the huts of Dalits for far smaller provocations?

But understanding a phenomenon is not to condone it. Let there be no two views on this: Mayawati is the most dangerous politician this country has had since Sanjay Gandhi. In her open defiance of any ethical standards; in her complete confidence that she sets her own norms and everyone better accept them or else; in her ruthless use of the instruments of state for patently illegal ends; in her no-holds barred self-enrichment in the name of the poor ; and in her totally unselfconscious drive to immortalise herself, she shows all the signs of megalomania exhibited by leaders of newly independent African countries, many of whom have taken their nations over the brink.

In this context, has anyone noticed how appropriate is the one accessory that always accompanies Mayawati’s statues?  Other leaders hold books, some are depicted giving speeches, some are shown gesturing like a teacher. Mayawati’s statues stand rock still, a handbag in her hand.

That Mayawati has prospered so much isn’t as shocking as is the active encouragement she has received. The most to blame is our media which began talk of her as a future prime minister when she won the last elections in UP. The media was so taken up with her so-called “rainbow coalition” of upper and lower castes than it failed to see that the first sign that Mayawati stood for was nothing but herself.

But all is not lost. Lalu’s’s example in Bihar is an interesting parallel. As soon as his erstwhile supporters found an alternative, they humiliated Lalu in the elections. The Dalits will one day do the same to Mayawati. Amen.