Monday, October 17, 2011

[ZESTCaste] SC/ST in higher education [1 Attachment]

 
[Attachment(s) from uaday singh included below]

Dear Friends,
        See attached file. This is summary of teaching posts in higher education created by me from various RTIs. The friends who are close to political parties are requested to give this issue them to raise in coming session of Parliament.  
 
Dr. Uaday Singh
Assistant Professor

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Attachment(s) from uaday singh

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[ZESTCaste] Ambedkar opposes Mayawati's statement on Cong's dalit PM card

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Ambedkar-opposes-Mayawati-s-statement-on-Cong-s-dalit-PM-card/Article1-757692.aspx

Ambedkar opposes Mayawati's statement on Cong's dalit PM card
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Nagpur, October 15, 2011

Former Lok Sabha member and RPI leader, Prakash Ambedkar on Saturday
took a strong exception to UP chief minister Mayawati's statement that
the nation should not be surprised if the Congress appoints a Dalit
prime minister in place of Manmohan Singh ahead of Uttar Pradesh
elections to garner
dalit votes.

Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon Babasaheb Ambedkar, questioned
why Mayawati felt apprehensive if the Congress appoints Lok Sabha
speaker Meira Kumar or union energy minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as
prime minister to garner dalit sympathy and votes.

At the opening of the Rs 685-crore Dalit Prerna Sthal on Friday,
Mayawati used the opportunity to kickstart her state elections
campaign, slated for 2012.

She speculated that the Congress wanted to dent the BSP's strong Dalit
vote bank and for this, it could name a Dalit leader for the PM's
post. She went on the claim that the Congress can stage the 'drama' of
appointing either Shinde or Kumar as prime minister for some time to
lure the Dalits.

Ambedkar said Mayawati should be happy if a Dalit becomes the Prime
Minister. Both Shinde and Kumar are competent, Ambedkar added. Besides
these two leaders, he said, the Congress has veteran leader like Buta
Singh and Kumari Selja.

Mayawati also termed the Congress as "anti-Dalit" and to substantiate
her claim she said that the Congress never allowed Babu Jagjivan Ram -
Meira Kumar's father - who dedicated his life to the Congress -- to
become the Prime Minister.

To a question, Ambedkar reiterated his call for a non-Congress non-BJP
third front, including the Left parties to oust the ruling UPA and the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by BJP - as the main opposition
alliance.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalits push their version of Lokpal bill

 

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_exclusive-where-do-we-take-our-dead-and-go-ask-dalits_1599355-all

IANS
Dalits push their version of Lokpal bill
2011-10-15 20:00:00

New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) A representative of Dalit organisations
Saturday sought support for their version of the anti-graft bill,
claiming that the Jan Lokpal bill drafted by Team Anna 'will disturb
the constitutional balance'.

'The Jan Lokpal bill wants the executive, the judiciary and the
legislature should report to the Lokpal. This will disturb the fine
constitutional balance,' said All India Confederation of SC/ST
Organisations chairman Udit Raj, seeking support for their version of
the proposed legislation called the Bahujan Lokpal bill.

Speaking at a seminar, he sought reservation for Dalits and minorities
in the proposed anti-corruption set-up through the Bahujan Lokpal
bill. 'If Anna supports our demand, we will back him.'

'Dalits, including the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and
minorities, form a large percentage of population and must be involved
in the Lokpal,' Udit Raj said at the seminar on various versions of
the proposed legislation.

Swami Agnivesh, a former member of Team Anna, also supported the
demand for a quota for Dalits and minorities in the proposed Lokpal
set-up.

'No legislation or movement will be successful if it does not have
social justice,' said Agnivesh.

Shazia Ilmi, a member of Team Anna, said, 'our movement follows
parliamentary procedures' and 'was not opposed to giving reservation
to the Dalits and minorities'.

'We are basically against corruption and want a strong Lokpal,' said Shazia.

Udit Raj said even if the Lokpal bill was passed, 'there is no
guarantee it will be effective in rooting out corruption'.

The parliamentary standing committee on law and justice headed by
Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi is looking into various drafts of
the Lokpal bill, including the Jan Lokpal bill.

The panel is expected to submit its recommendations to parliament by
the winter session, which is usually held in November-December.

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[ZESTCaste] Exclusive: Where do we take our dead and go, ask Dalits

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_exclusive-where-do-we-take-our-dead-and-go-ask-dalits_1599355

Exclusive: Where do we take our dead and go, ask Dalits
Published: Sunday, Oct 16, 2011, 9:15 IST | Updated: Sunday, Oct 16,
2011, 15:07 IST
By Yogesh Pawar | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Upper caste farmer Mahadeo Khandu's son Dilip of Mhalsapur-Zavle
ploughs a plot where Dalits used to bury their dead.

If pain had a face, it could be Narayan Sonawane's. The 45-year-old
Dalit farmer keeps scratching a shaving wound on his face till it
bleeds, and makes him flinch. The pain, perhaps, momentarily takes his
mind off the gruesome reality outside his hut — a seven acre plot that
used to be a Dalit cremation ground until a year ago.

In June 2010, it was usurped by upper caste Maratha farmer Mahadeo
Khandu. And on this day, as Sonawane stands watching mutely, Khandu
supervises the tilling of the land. The land where the bodies of
Sonawane's parents were laid to rest.

"I buried my father here two years ago. And my mother a year before
that with my own hands," says Sonawane, fighting back tears. "Would
upper castes let this happen to their own dead?"

As a crowd gathers around, a nonplussed Khandu shouts, "Don't listen
to him, he's lying." But he quickly changes tack. "Come now...We are
all from the same village. Why take such petty differences to the
media?" Seeing that his words have had no effect, he adds, "I'll build
a shed for you to cremate your dead. I don't even want money for
building it."

We soon discover the reason for Khandu's generosity: the appropriated
land is worth Rs30 lakh at market rates, while the steel shed with
asbestos sheet roofs will cost a mere Rs30,000!

Khandu and Sonawane belong to Mhalsapur-Zavla village in Beed
district, which falls in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Such
casual take-over of Dalit lands by upper castes is fairly common, not
just in this district, but all over Maharashtra. According to figures
compiled by the Maharashtra ministry for social justice, Dalit burial
grounds have been usurped by upper castes in with 72.13% of the
state's 43,722 villages.

About 150 km from Mhalsapur-Zavla, in Parbhani district's Devalgaon
village, the tension is palpable. It has been less than a week since
violence erupted over a Dalit's attempt to bury a deceased family
member in the demarcated cremation ground. Upper caste men stopped the
funeral procession, brutally attacked the pall-bearers, and flung the
body of 39-year-old Shevanta Pawar to the ground. The pall-bearers,
including Pawar's husband, Mahesh Pawar, 42, barely escaped with their
lives.

Recalls a bitter Mahesh, "Upper caste men attacked us and threw my
wife's body into the bushes nearby. After we lodged a complaint with
the tehsildar, the police arrived, and only then could we recover the
body from the bushes and do the last rites."

Despite the violence, and the tension in the village on account of it,
the upper castes are unrepentant. "This is our way of life. Those who
don't like it here are free to leave," says Dhanajirao Kale, an
obviously well-to-do upper caste farmer. Kale even has a word of
advice for us, "It is better that you city folks stick to what you
know and understand."

Adding insult to injury
Nearly 60 km away, the Dalits of Malegaon still can't forget November
22, 2008. On that fateful day, upper caste men led by priests of the
local Khandoba temple, Sanjay and Ganptrao Naik, attacked a funeral
procession with sticks and swords because they were taking a dead body
to the designated crematorium. "They beat up everyone and forced them
to flee with my father's body, which then lay in our house for two
days," remembers Urmila Waghmare, daughter of the deceased, Ramchandra
Waghmare. "When the body began to decompose and smell, we had to
cremate it on the roadside," she adds, tears welling up in her eyes.

When Dalit rights organisations like Samajik Nyay Andolan forced a
reluctant police to lodge an FIR, reprisal from the upper castes was
swift —the Waghmares' home was burnt down. Urmila's distraught mother
Mandubai suffered severe burn injuries but survived. While the
culprits, thanks to their political patrons, move around freely,
Urmila and her mother live without a roof over their heads. Promises
from the then collector, Radheshyam Mopalwar, that they will get a
house under Indira Awaas Yojana have remained promises. "Every time I
go to the social welfare officer, he asks me to come later," says
Urmila.

There are, of course, instances where official apathy has reduced even
death to a farce. Like in Madalmoi village of Georai tehsil in Beed,
where the 0.275 acre crematorium (Survey No 357) was first given to
the Dalits by the Nizam in 1354. It was encroached upon by a wealthy
Maratha, Sonaji Bhopale, in 1965, and subsequently sold to a local
money lender, Sitaram Govind Harkut.

Complaints from the Dalits led to a law suit, which is still pending
in court. So after every death, the Dalits take the dead body and lay
it in the middle of the busy highway for a rasta roko. "Once we create
a traffic jam, the cops and the tehsildar scurry to the spot, and only
then are we allowed to perform the last rites on the allocated land,"
says Sarjerao Shinde, a resident of the village.

The Marathas are calling it blackmail. "Why can't they wait for the
case to be decided by the court if they know they are right?" asks an
angry Harkut.

'Marathwada is worst'
These are by no means isolated incidents. In fact, since there have
been several such incidents in the constituency of BJP general
secretary and deputy opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, Gopinath
Munde, and in Dehu village in NCP chief Sharad Pawar's constituency.

When contacted by DNA, Munde admitted that the problem existed in his
constituency, but was quick to add that it was prevalent across the
state.

"I have myself raised this issue several times, first in the state
assembly and then in the Parliament, but the government is not serious
about addressing this long-standing issue," he said. When asked why
the NDA government did nothing about the issue during the Sena-BJP
reign in the state, he said, "Undoing what the Congress had allowed to
fester for 45 years is not an easy task," adding, "If the Dalits
unite, mobilise and take to the streets on this issue, I will gladly
join them gladly in their fight."

Article 17 of the Constitution abolishes all forms of untouchability.
But the reality is otherwise even when it comes to burying/cremating
the dead. In hundreds of villages and hamlets across Mahahrashtra,
Dalits are not only denied access to the common burial/cremation
ground but prevented from using even the burial grounds specifically
demarcated for them.

"The level of friction over the issue is the highest in Marathwada,
where over one-fifth of the population is Dalit," explains Eknath
Avhad of the Manavi Hakk Abhiyan, which has been fighting for Dalit
rights in the region.

"Dalit youth of today do not want to wait endlessly for justice to
prevail. Their increasing aggression is seen by upper castes as a
challenge to their social and economic status."

Will justice ever be done?
Dalits have traditionally had separate tracts of land to dispose of
their dead as a part of the caste system. "In Maharashtra, these are
on the eastern side of the village, so that the whole village is not
'polluted' by the winds blowing from the direction of the Dalit
cremation ground," points out Ganpat Bhise of the Samajik Nyay
Andolan, a Parbhani-based organisation fighting for the restoration of
these cremation tracts to Dalits.

"The upper castes want to usurp Dalit cremation grounds, and they also
do not want us to cremate our dead anywhere else. Where do they want
us to take our dead and go?" asks Bhise. "Why then don't they allow us
to use the same crematoria that they do?"

He says claims of progress on integration and mainstreaming of Dalits
ring hollow on the ground, and remembers how the then Nanded collector
had mocked him during a protest against the Malegaon incident, asking,
"Do you expect the Collector to go to every Dalit's house and help him
fight for justice?"

Access to cremation/burial grounds has become an increasingly
sensitive issue over the last decade as population has grown. Land,
always a contentious resource, is more so in this arid belt, which has
the lowest per capita income in the state. "It is ironic that in the
birthplace of BR Ambedkar, Dalits continue to be denied dignity even
in death," observes Eknath Avhad. "The government's inability to
resolve this issue even six decades after Independence has only
created another reason to keep the caste cauldron on the boil."

Same story across the country

Punjab: A paradox of Sikhism
Though Dalits form 30% of Punjab's population, and though Sikhism
frowns on discrimination in the name of caste or creed, untouchability
against the Mazhbis and Ramdasias, the two Dalit castes among Sikhs,
is well established. They have been forced to live in separate
settlements, contemptuously called thhattis or chamarhlees, and forced
to reside on the western side, away from the main area of the
villages, so that the winds blowing over them don't pollute the upper
castes. All the Sikh organisations, from Sikh temples to the political
parties, are under the control of the Jat Sikhs, who refuse to
consider Dalit Sikhs equals even after death. The former disallow
cremation of the latter's dead in the main cremation grounds. Over the
years, such harsh discrimination has forced Dalits to establish
separate gurdwaras, marriage places and cremation grounds. This, in
many ways, is the biggest paradox of Sikhism, which is often
characterised as 'emancipatory' and 'revolutionary'.

Tamil Nadu: Evidence of atrocity
A study by the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF)
shows problems relating to burial and burning grounds in over 75% of
the state's 30,000-odd villages. The NGO Evidence found that Dalits
had faced atrocities over burial/cremation in 208 of the 213 villages
covered by their survey. In 153 villages, Dalits were not allowed to
carry their dead through areas where the dominant castes lived. In 132
villages, Dalit graveyards do not have water, power or a cremation
shed.

Gujarat: it's 'wasteland'
According to the Ahmedabad-based Behavioural Science Centre (BSC), of
the 18,100 villages in the state, 5,000 have no legal burial grounds
for Dalits. Though the Dalit custom of burying the dead is an age-old
one, the government doesn't recognise it. As a result, the unregulated
lands are classified as wasteland. Despite the fact that the Revenue
Department had passed a GR in September 1989 to consider 1972 as the
year for earmarking land for burial, nothing has been done so far.


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[ZESTCaste] JD(U) Leader Flays Cong for Condition of Dalits

 

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=738421

JD(U) Leader Flays Cong for Condition of Dalits
PTI | Patna | Oct 16, 2011

Senior JD(U) leader Shivanand today alleged that Congress had done
nothing for the uplift of the dalits in the country.

"Congress has done precious little to ameliorate the condition of the
dalit people despite the fact that this section of the society has
been its votebank since independence," Tiwari told a seminar here.

Tiwari said it was deplorable that a section of the dalits were
cleaning human excreta and said that the governments should have done
something to end this inhuman practice.

Expressing happiness for the constitution of the Mahadalit Commission
in Bihar, he urged the government to set up a special fund dedicated
to development and welfare of dalit people.
Filed On: Oct 16, 2011 17:58 IST

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[ZESTCaste] CPM claims non-dalits in Keeripatti Social boycott alleged in Keeripatti threatening villagers

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/CPM-claims-non-dalits-in-Keeripatti-Social-boycott-alleged-in-Keeripatti-threatening-villagers/articleshow/10383288.cms

CPM claims non-dalits in Keeripatti Social boycott alleged in
Keeripatti threatening villagers
M T Saju, TNN | Oct 17, 2011, 05.35AM IST

MADURAI: A day after the campaigning for the local body elections
ended, local CPM leaders have alleged that a fresh village committee
(oorkoottam) that was called on Friday threatened the villagers in
Keeripatti not to cast their votes to anyone other than Mookakalai,
the dalit dummy of the non-dalits. in Keeripatti.

"The meeting was called by six senior non-dalit members in the village
on Friday. They threatened the villagers of ostracism if they vote for
anyone other than Mookakalai," said Tha Chellakannu, CPM district
leader in Usilampatti.

Keeripatti, Pappapatti and Nattarmangalam are the three reserved
panchayats in the

Madurai district. "Among the three panchayts, only Keeripatti is
having problems because of

the Thevar community domination is high in the village. They don't
want others to take control. So they try their level

best to defeat the dalit candidate Baluchamy," he said. Although a
complaint was filed in this regard, no action has been taken so far.

"Two policemen came, visited the spot and left. In fact, we informed
the police well in advance when the meeting was going to be called.
But they came late and claimed that nothing of that sort happened,"
said Chellakannu.

However, talking to the

TOI, Madurai Rural SP Asra Garg said the police had already sent
additional forces to the sensitive villages where election to the
local bodies are to be held on October 17.

"Whenever we received any complaint from the people in Keeripatti, we
have taken action. And the same will continue to make the election a
democratic exercise. We have already sent special forces to Keeripatti
to make sure no untoward incident happens tomorrow (Monday)," he said.

Garg also added that all necessary steps have been taken to make
people cast their votes freely and fearlessly. There are 109 dalit
families and 570 non-dalit families in Keeripatti. The total number of
voters is 1150 among which the majority are non-dalits.

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[ZESTCaste] Agnivesh says no democracy in Team Anna

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Agnivesh-says-no-democracy-in-Team-Anna/H1-Article1-758045.aspx

Agnivesh says no democracy in Team Anna
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, October 16, 2011

Describing Anna Hazare's campaign as 'brahminvaad', activist Swami
Agnivesh on Sunday hit out at the Gandhian saying there was "no
democracy" in his agitation and dissenting voices were thrown out of
the team. Agnivesh, who was marginalised by Team Anna as they
suspected him to be a
"government mole", also claimed that the RSS stamp was "very much
evident" in the campaign and that he had argued for better
representation of Muslims and Dalits to counter this.

He said many of the crucial decisions like opposing Congress in Hisar
elections and holding referendum in Kapil Sibal's constituency were
not taken by the core committee and it was like "Anna and Arvind
(Kejriwal) were taking all decisions".

Claiming that he had argued for better representation of Muslims and
Dalits in the anti-corruption movement, Agnivesh said, "It was
brahminvaad. They were not ready to treat everybody as equal. We did
not see Dalits or Muslims in Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Maidan where
Anna sat on fast".

Targeting Hazare, he said, "Anna is very individualistic. He never
functions in a democratic way. It is like 'if you fall in line, then
it is okay'."

"None of the big social workers from Maharashtra were part of his
campaign," Agnivesh told PTI in an interview.

He said he had objected to building a "cult around Anna" in the
meetings but no one listened.

"People used to say we were foot soldiers. Somebody said Anna is
'Doosra Gandhi', then there was Anna is India and India is Anna. When
I pointed out these, they did not find any fault with it," he said.

Agnivesh, who was in the eye of a controversy after a video footage
surfaced in which he was heard telling someone that Anna agitation
should be dealt with strictly, said there was no democratic way of
decision making in Team Anna.

A number of Team Anna members, who attended the September 10-11 Core
meeting in Hazare's village Ralegan Siddhi, said that there no
decision was taken to oppose Congress, he claimed.

On allegations that he was a "government mole", Agnivesh said how can
Team Anna assume so when he himself opened the doors of World Council
of Arya Samaj office in Sadar Bazar in north Delhi to keep the
referendum questionnaire to be distributed in Chandni Chowk, Sibal's
constituency.

"There was no Core Committee decision to hold a referendum in Chandni
Chowk. But one day Kejriwal told me they don't have space to keep the
questionnaire.

"I opened the doors of Arya Samaj for them. Sibal was upset that I was
supporting them. But now they are calling me government mole."

"In another instance, another member asked me to talk to Law Minister
Salman Khurshid as I knew him.I did so at the instance of that member.
During the whole Ramlila Maidan agitation, I did not talk to Sibal. Is
it a reason to call me a mole?" Agnivesh said.

He also accused Kejriwal of misinforming public about the role of
Standing Committee in law-making process.

"I spoke to constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap and eminent lawyer
Ram Jethmalani. They both said it was an effective platform to improve
the Bill.

"When I presented this viewpoint in the Core Committee on August 13, I
was asked why did I speak to these people," he claimed.

"There was a deliberate misinformation campaign against the role of
Standing Committee. One should remember that RTI Bill had 156
amendments in the Standing Committee. This is what Kashap told me,"
he said.

He said he was the lone voice of dissent against Hazare going on a
fast-unto-death agitation at Ramlila Maidan.

"It was recorded in the minutes. I insisted that. But Anna was
adamant. He was saying one may die of heart attack also, so what is
the difference. He was adamant."

"I was for a fast for 5-6 days but not fast-unto-death. I was
concerned about Anna's health."

On RSS involvement, he said Sangh itself has come out in open on its
role in the agitation when Hazare tried to distance himself from the
organisation.

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[ZESTCaste] Maya-Sonia relations hit an all-time low

 

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-16/lucknow/30285788_1_mayawati-dalit-prerna-sthal-bsp-supremo

Maya-Sonia relations hit an all-time low
Ashish Tripathi, TNN Oct 16, 2011, 04.04AM IST

LUCKNOW: There is nothing new in UP chief minister and BSP supremo
Mayawati describing Congress as her enemy number one. But Maya-Sonia
relations have hit an all time low with Mayawati accusing Congress
president Sonia Gandhi of ditching her in disproportionate assets (DA)
case.

The BSP insiders, however, claim it was Behenji's 'master stroke'
aimed at preempting any move by the Congress-led UPA government to use
CBI for discrediting her before 2012 assembly elections. The CBI had
recently filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that it has evidence
to prosecute Mayawati for having assets more than her known sources of
income.

After inaugurating Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida on Friday, Mayawati, in
her speech, had claimed that when NDA government had ordered CBI to
raid her residence in 2003, Sonia Gandhi had called her and assured
that if voted to power, UPA government would do justice to the BSP
supremo, but nothing has been done so far, despite the fact that the
income tax department has given her a clean chit.

The BSP leaders said that by disclosing her conversation with Sonia,
Behenji has put the Congress on the backfoot. "The UPA government has
been using disproportionate assets (DA) case against Mayawati and SP
chief Mulayam Singh to serve its purpose for long. We have come to
know that the depending on the political situation, Congress can use
the DA case against Mayawati or Mulayam to discredit them just before
the assembly polls due in March next year," they said.

The BSP leaders also pointed out that the UP chief minister has taken
action against four ministers indicted by the UP Lokayukta for
corruption. Two ministers were removed when their names figured in
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. Further, action has been
taken against 20 BSP MLAs, MPs and other leaders for their involvement
in corruption and criminal activities. "No other government, Centre or
states, in the country has taken such steps against corruption," they
claimed. In such a scenario, they said, Congress could have used CBI
against Mayawati to divert attention of people during UP elections
from the price hike and scams under the UPA regime. Mayawati has also
said that she has no problem with the anti-corruption campaigns of
Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. They said that any CBI action now would
only generate sympathy among voters for Mayawati.

Significantly, despite political rivalry, Sonia and Maya had good
relations. It started with Sonia's visit to Maya on her birthday in
2004. In June 2007, Congress-appointed UP governor T V Rajeswar had
denied permission to CBI to prosecute Mayawati in Taj Heritage case.
Mayawati responded by supporting Congress candidate Pratibha Patil for
the post of President. But in March 2008, Gandhi scion Rahul earned
Maya's anger when he started visiting dalit households in UP. In July
2008, Maya formed Third Front to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal. In
May 2009, BSP performed poorly in Lok Sabha elections in UP as a
section of dalits and Muslims voted for Congress. In July 2009, UP
Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house was burnt allegedly by BSP
supporters after she reportedly made defamatory remarks against
Mayawati. Joshi was also arrested.

In 2010, after getting clean chit from the Income Tax (I-T) Appellate
Tribunal, Maya requested the apex court to quash the DA case filed by
the CBI. On April 23, 2010, the CBI told the court that it can
consider closure of proceedings against Maya in view of the I-T order.

In return, the BSP saved the UPA government on April 27, 2010, during
the cut motion brought by the opposition in the budget session. But
things changed in 2011 when Rahul launched an aggressive campaign
against Mayawati's rule on the issue of land acquisition and
corruption.

Mayawati got Rahul arrested in Bhatta-Parsaul in May this year.
Subsequently in August, the CBI filed an affidavit in the Supreme
Court claiming that the DA proceedings against Maya cannot be dropped
and it would file a chargesheet against her soon. Now, the BSP chief
has responded by attacking Sonia.

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[ZESTCaste] All is Maya, Meira (Aditya Sinha)

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_aditya-sinha-all-is-maya-meira_1599323

All is Maya, Meira
Aditya Sinha | Sunday, October 16, 2011

Mayawati, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, on Friday revealed what
has recently been doing the gossip rounds in Delhi: that the Congress
Party was thinking of appointing Meira Kumar, the Lok Sabha Speaker,
as the next prime minister. This would have been logical had it not
been for the fact that the incumbent, Dr Manmohan Singh, is digging
his heels in. Meira Kumar is an articulate former diplomat (who
entered politics in 1985, swept into Parliament by the Rajiv Gandhi
tsunami, defeating, incidentally, Mayawati); her father was Congress
Dalit heavyweight Jagjivan Ram; she's an MP from Bihar, an electorally
barren state for the Congress; and she's the first woman Speaker. Her
elevation as PM would fit in with her party president's preference for
placing women in high office.

Mayawati says Meira Kumar's appointment would be solely directed at
the UP assembly elections, due by May. Since the CM's core voter is
the UP Dalit, and since an inevitable anti-incumbency factor is likely
to erode parts of the coalition that swept her into power in 2007, the
Congress thinking is presumably to impact Mayawati's core voter by
selecting a Dalit PM. Also, the Congress party's stakes are far higher
in UP than they were in either Bihar or Tamil Nadu, both states with
large parliamentary seats and where assembly elections were recently
held, but both also places where the Congress emerged with a
single-figure tally despite the best efforts by Rahul Gandhi. The UP
2012 poll will be a referendum for many things: on Mayawati's reign
the past five years, on Rahul Gandhi's politics in India's most
populous state (expectations heightened by the surprise Congress tally
in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll), and on what politics will determine the
election of the next president of India two months later.

Yet the UP poll will revolve only around Mayawati, no one else.
Article continues below the advertisement...

Things are not alarmingly bad for her, despite what the media says;
sadly, our media is casteist in its approach to India's foremost Dalit
leader. It is difficult to argue against the allegation that she is a
megalomaniac, but this is true of all our politicians. M Karunanidhi
has Tamils address him as "Kalaignar" (great artist); Narendra Modi
sees himself as corporate India's saviour; and even the Congress
leadership practices a kind of vanity by cultivating an air of
mystique around itself. Vanity, it seems, plays an important part in
political projection the world over.

The media goes on and on about how Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
has eradicated the atmosphere of fear that pervaded Bihar during his
predecessor Lalu Prasad's reign. Crime has decreased and there is
finally law and order: doctors in Patna now make house-calls and
people go out for dinner. The same courtesy, however, is not extended
to Mayawati: the atmosphere of fear prevalent in UP during her
predecessor Mulayam Singh's time exists no longer. Instead of lauding
Mayawati, the media focuses on her autocracy (Nitish's autocracy is
played down).

Additionally, the media rarely speaks of the developmental work done
by Mayawati the past five years. True, much more needs to be done, but
that's because UP is so massive; it will take time before real
transformation registers.

Still, the word from UP is that Mayawati's vote will erode and that
Mulayam Singh will benefit (the other parties will slug it out for the
number three position, simply because they can't even identify a CM
candidate). It looks at the moment like UP will have a hung assembly;
the top three parties accumulating anywhere between 100 to 150 seats
and the Congress around 30 seats (the halfway mark is 203). The
Samajwadi Party may emerge the single largest, which means the UP
Muslim voter has returned to Mulayam, and which explains Congress
panic; to stay relevant it needs to at least play kingmaker, for which
it will not have enough seats.

Hence, the idea of Meira Kumar as PM; yet it is bound to fail. Meira
Kumar is technically a Dalit, but Mayawati's voters will hardly
identify with someone who had a privileged upbringing. The things that
make Mayawati gaudy to upper castes are the very things that endear
her to her voters: that she has arrived, and on her own strength.
Meira Kumar may turn out to be a good PM, and she may as PM even
deliver to the Congress a few seats in Bihar; but as a strategy to
unsettle Mayawati, this is dead on arrival.

Then there is the matter of Dr Manmohan Singh. You might have noticed
that he's gotten a bit aggressive of late, uncharacteristically.
Returning from the US, he sneered at the BJP for thinking the
government would fall; in a letter this week he told Anna Hazare to
cool it, saying a Lokpal Bill was on its way; and he even signaled,
anti-democratically, that the RTI was getting out of hand. These do
not seem like the actions of a PM who has given up and is on his way
out. They seem more like those of a PM who is settling down for a
fight. Congress may worry about UP but Mayawati need not worry about
Meira Kumar. Manmohan Singh, it seems, will be around for a while.

— The writer is the Editor-in-Chief, DNA, based in Mumbai


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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati's Park: Extravaganza or Empowerment?

 
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