Attention! Mayawati Memsaab is here

If Mayawati had not made it big in politics, she would have perhaps done quite well as a no-nonsense army officer, a strict administrator or a stick-wielding school principal.

One just has to attend a couple of her election rallies to arrive at this conclusion.  

Mayawati sounds imperious as she delivers her speech written in advance by herself.

Most of the content remains the same, regardless of whether she is speaking in Kolkata or Kerala. However, she does make minor allowances for local issues as the venue changes. 

So, in Jaipur, she promises reservation to Gurjars, in Palwal (Haryana) she says Faridabad’s water problem would be solved if the BSP came to power at the Centre, and in Muslim-dominated Azamgarh (UP), she promises a separate quota for the minority. But she reserves a major part of her speech for a diatribe against the Congress. 

“The Congress has ruled for the maximum time since independence. But the plight of the poor and the downtrodden remains the same... that is because this party functions on money given by industrialists and formulates policies to suit the rich and the prosperous,” Maya says. She charges the UPA regime with neglecting UP. 

She reserves some special pungent treatment for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who seems to have got her goat by mixing around with Dalits. Every speech of hers has this line: “Garibon ki jhopdiyon mein rahne, unke saath khaana khaane aur unke dhool-mitti mein sane bachhon ko kandhey par baithaane se unki gareebi aur berozgaari door nahin hogi.” (Staying with poor people in their huts, eating with them and picking up their dirty children will not remove their poverty and unemployment.) 

The crowd stirs with excitement as she talks of ‘Dalit ki beti’ (a Dalit daughter) becoming the next prime minister. But by and large, Mayawati’s rallies are strictly a one-way communication. She wants complete attention. So, there is no spontaneous applause; clapping and cheering are indeed rare. And while ‘Behnji’ speaks, nobody comes or goes. Her cadres know she is a strict disciplinarian. Bahujan Volunteer Force, the BSP’s private security wing, keeps an eagle eye on the gathering and discourages any impulsive expressions of joy or approval. 

Mayawati addresses only two rallies a day. She travels by a private jet or helicopter depending on the distance. She never travels by road to campaign. Nine times out of 10, she reaches her election meetings at the precise time announced. 

Dressed in a light-coloured silk salwar suit, she greets the orderly crowds with a typical car wiper hand movement which is perhaps the only dramatic moment in her otherwise dull rallies. She delivers her speech, which lasts between 45 minutes and an hour, matter-of-factly.

The first part deals with issues she wants to highlight and the latter is more of a list of instructions to her loyal followers. Mayawati talks to the crowd knowing they are her people and she does not have to win them over. 

With Mayawati around, promises are never in short supply. Once this ‘Dalit ki beti’ becomes PM, there will be reservations in the private sector, the judiciary, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Parishad and in the council of ministers, too. UP shall be divided in four parts, minorities and poor upper castes will get separate quotas, the poor will get a guarantee of work 365 days a year... the list is exhaustive.

But though Mayawati speaks at length, she doesn’t seem to be running out of breath. Not for now, at least. 

‘Dalit ki beti’
Name: Mayawati Age: 53
Ambition: To become PM 
Pet issue: Welfare of sarvasamaj (all sections of society) 
Campaign vehicle: A private jet or a helicopter; never travels by road to campaign 
Favourite line: Vote for BSP to make ‘Dalit ki beti’ PM 
Pet peeve: Rahul Gandhi mixing freely with Dalits 
Number of meetings a day: Strictly 2