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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

[ZESTCaste] BSP, Cong laocked in a keen battle to woo Dalits

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/BSP-Cong-laocked-in-a-keen-battle-to-woo-Dalits/articleshow/5798681.cms

BSP, Cong laocked in a keen battle to woo Dalits

13 Apr 2010, 2301 hrs IST,Man Mohan Rai,ET Bureau

LUCKNOW: Though the crucial 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh
are almost two years away but the clarion call for the big battle
would be
given on Wednesday by the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress,
which is increasingly occupying the vocal opposition space in the
state.

The Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be flagging of his
party's 'yatra' (long march) in 10 different directions of the state
from BSP czarina Mayawati's hometurf of Ambedkar Nagar on Wednesday,
which significantly is the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar.

Rahul Gandhi who has increasingly been concentrating to win back the
state for his party seems to have chosen the day and date purposefully
to take on Mayawati.

Ambedkar Nagar holds special significance in the BSP lexicon. Besides
having a large Dalit population, it has twice been represented by
Mayawati in the past. The Chief Minister had earlier also renamed the
district known as Akbarpur to Ambedkar Nagar after the Dalit icon.

Choosing the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar to launch the party
campaign is also symbolically important, as the Congress has been
looking to dent the Dalit votebank of Mayawati.

Not to be outdone Mayawati, who has often seen red over Rahul Gandhi's
efforts to woo her devoted Dalit votebank, has also declared the start
of her party's political campaign from the same place and day raising
political temperatures in the state.

Mayawati has called on her party cadre to hold demonstration against
the Women's Reservation Bill, a subject close of the Congress chief
Sonia Gandhi's heart, in all districts of the state on Wednesday.
Mayawati has even declared that she would be under taking an aerial
survey of the party demonstration across the state and BSP sources say
that she might even land up in Ambedkar Nagar taking everyone by
surprise.

After this the BSP would be holding a series of demonstrations, aimed
at the Congress and its "anti-Dalit mindset", in one district after
another starting May onwards till the year end, which would cover the
entire state.

With the Congress 'yatra' also expected to cover all districts of UP
over the next few months both the party's would be locked in a keen
political confrontation.

Already the party cadres in Ambedkar Nagar have been locked in a
tussle over putting up their posters and banners and things are
expected to intensify as the campaign of the two parties proceed.

Mayawati who after sensing disquiet in the BSPs committed Dalit
votebank over her social engineering experiment to bring Brahmins and
Dalits together has now gone back to the party basics.

While Rahul Gandhi hoped to cash in on this unrest among the Dalits
over Mayawati's social engineering experiments, she was quick to allay
their apprehensions. Her move to sideline trusted lieutenant and the
party's Brahmin face Satish Chandra Mishra was seen in the same light.

Chief Minister Mayawati has now sharply turned back her focus on
Dalits and to counter any move by the Congress to try and dent her
votebank. But with the Congress under Rahul Gandhi bent on taking the
battle to Mayawati's court the political scene has already intensified
in the state much ahead of the assembly polls.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit face missing, BJP still out to climb bandwagon

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalit-face-missing-bjp-still-out-to-climb-bandwagon/605576/

Dalit face missing, BJP still out to climb bandwagon

Tarannum Manjul Posted online: Tuesday , Apr 13, 2010 at 0457 hrs
Lucknow : The BJP is all set to woo the Dalits — despite lacking a
single recognised Dalit leader.
The party has planned a campaign against the Ranganath Mishra
Committee's recommendation for SC quota reservation for Dalits who
converted to Christianity or Islam. Under the banner of the BJP's
Aarakshan Bachao Manch, its Dalit leaders are to travel across the
state.

The Manch has its agenda in place for the next five months. The first
programme — held in Lucknow on Sunday — was attended by national
general secretary Thavarchand Gehlot, along with national spokesperson
Ramnath Kovind and the national secretary Ashok Pradhan.

Diwakar Seth, state coordinator of the Manch, said, "We will initially
start with the mahanagars." This will be followed by programmes in
districts and then protests and dharnas at the tehsil level.

"We are opposing the Ranganath Mishra Committee report, which says
that Dalits who have converted into Islam or Christianity should also
be given reservation under the SC quota," he said. "We will tell
people what steps different BJP governments at the state and the
Centre had taken for them."

But the party's problem is the absence of recognisable Dalit faces in
the state.

The only name mentioned is that of former MP Ashok Pradhan, who is
little known outside Aligarh and Bulandshahr districts. The Manch is
relying chiefly on Rajnath Singh and party state president Ramapati
Ram Tripathi.

Party insiders, however, say this lacunae will not help to strike a
chord with the state's Dalit population.

"Gehlot is not well known even in the party," a senior leader pointed
out. "On Sunday, it was found that only senior workers knew who he
was. He too seemed to be finding it difficult to relate with the
people here."

Like Gehlot, Kovind too is an unknown face in UP.

The state BJP, he said, needs Dalit faces. "We have to fight against
the Congress and the BSP who are better placed in this aspect," he
added.

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[ZESTCaste] Battle for Dalit votes hots up in Bihar

http://toi.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Battle-for-Dalit-votes-hots-up-in-Bihar/articleshow/5768421.cms

Battle for Dalit votes hots up in Bihar
Dipak Mishra, TNN, Apr 7, 2010, 01.07am IST

PATNA: The battle for the Dalit votes is on in Bihar. The stakes for
state's tallest Dalit leader, Ram Vilas Paswan, is high and he has
been busy trying to counter his chief political advisory chief
minister Nitish Kumar on the issue. Holding a series of meetings,
Paswan has given a call to Dalits to boycott Nitish Kumar for
allegedly insulting them by calling them "Mahadalits". His party has
petitioned the National SC/ST Commission chairman Sardar Buta Singh to
direct the state government to dissolve the Mahadalit Commission.

He has also ridiculed Nitish's claim on showering gifts to Dalits and
makes promises. "When we return to power we will purchase back the
house of late Bhola Paswan Sastri (former CM of Bihar) and turn it
into a museum. Nitish recently remarked that he would rename a park in
Sastri's name as if he was doing a favour to some beggar," Paswan
said. He alleged that the 3-decimel land given to Dalits were
"troubled land". "We will give each Dalit family one bigha of land
when we come to power," he said.

During the last three years, Nitish has been targetting the section of
Dalits he has christened as Mahadalits consisting of 23 of the 24
Dalit sub-castes __ leaving out only Paswans from the ambit.
Originally he included 18 of them. He added four more. Just after the
defeat in the bypolls, he added the Ravidas sub-caste-who are
numerically even stronger than the Paswans.The NDA organized the
Mahadalit meet in Patna which was considered in political circles as a
success.

"Our government has provided 18 per cent resevation to SCs and STs in
panchayat bodies as a result of which over 1,400 mukhiyas in the state
are Dalits," deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said. He also pointed towards
the government's initiative of providing Rs 10,000 to each Dalit
students who passed their exams in first division.

The LJP chief enjoyed the status of "King maker" in Bihar for a
decade. He used to flaunt the fact that when he was with the NDA the
political scales tilted towards the NDA and when he joined the UPA the
situation resevered with the UPA sweeping the polls. He declared that
because he had fougth the assembly polls independently, the NDA
managed to emerge victorious. However, the 2009 Lok Sabha stripped him
of the the "King-maker" image as the RJD-LJP alliance came a cropper
and Paswan himself lost. With his very political survival in the state
is under question. Paswan is going all out to maintain his Dalit
mascot image.

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[ZESTCaste] Rahul versus Maya on Ambedkar Jayanti

http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/lucknow/Rahul-versus-Maya-on-Ambedkar-Jayanti/Article1-530937.aspx

Rahul versus Maya on Ambedkar Jayanti

Umesh Raghuvanshi, Hindustan Times
Email Author
Lucknow, April 13, 2010
First Published: 23:56 IST(13/4/2010)
Last Updated: 10:20 IST(14/4/2010)

Congress general-secretary Rahul Gandhi is set to flag off a rally in
Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to mark his party's 125th anniversary,
locking horns with the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on its
own turf.

The BSP is also scheduled to hold a rally in the city on the same day,
the 119th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, who the BSP looks up to as
an inspirational Dalit figure.

Rahul's Chetna Yatra — a series of 10 rallies that will cover all 403
assembly constituencies of the state — will be flagged off in Ambedkar
Nagar district, 200 km from Lucknow.

The district has a sizeable population of Dalits, the BSP's main
support base, and has been represented by Chief Minister and BSP chief
Mayawati thrice in the Lok Sabha.

On Tuesday, the Congress moved an application before the district
administration seeking permission to garland an imposing Ambedkar
statue before flagging of the rallies.

"The local BSP unit has virtually taken custody of the Ambedkar
statue. BSP flags can be seen all around the statue. We have not heard
anything on the issue from the district administration," Rita Bahuguna
Joshi, president of the UPCC, told HT.

District authorities are yet to take a decision. "We received the
application from the Congress at 2.30 pm today (Tuesday). We have
sought a report from the police and a decision will be taken on the
issue thereafter," said district magistrate Kunwar Vikram Singh.

Congress leaders said the rallies had nothing to do with vote bank
politics and alleged the BSP was conniving to derail their plans. "The
district administration is acting at the behest of the BSP ministers
who are camping in Ambedkar Nagar. We are getting calls from Congress
workers in many districts about the denial or cancellation of bus
permits," said Joshi.

The BSP seemed concerned about the impact the rallies might have in
its stronghold. It has organised demonstrations on Wednesday against
the Congress-led central government.

------------------------------------

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati paints Lucknow blue for Ambedkar anniversary

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3816650

14/04/2010
Mayawati paints Lucknow blue for Ambedkar anniversary

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has virtually got the
city painted blue on the eve of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar's birth
anniversary.

Various memorials and monuments erected by Mayawati in different parts
of the state capital were draped in blue lights, while a net of tiny
blue lights was hung over every roundabout here.

Thousands of hoardings, posters, banners and buntings embossed with
pictures of the BSP supremo flanked all major thoroughfares of
Lucknow, which wore a festive look.

This was the second event within a month's span that Lucknow was
soaked in blue - the ruling BSP's colour - that had transformed the
city skyline. It was on March 15 - BSP founder and Mayawati's
political mentor Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary - when similar
adornment was witnessed here.

Besides her own pictures, Mayawati also made it a point to display
portraits of her party's ideologues and icons - Ambedkar, Narain Guru,
Shahuji Maharaj and Ramaswamy Periyar, besides of course Kanshi Ram -
all along the 18-km thoroughfare from the Lucknow airport to the
Ambedkar Memorial.

Other monuments, including Buddha Sthal, Kanshi Ram Memorial, Ramabai
Ambedkar Maidan, Kanshi Ram Eco Park, Prerna Bhawan etc., built by the
Uttar Pradesh chief minister at a cost of Rs.6,000 crore were also
decked up in blue. And so was the chief minister's official residence
as well as all key government buildings.

Hordes of BSP volunteers were expected to visit the state capital to
offer their tributes at the Ambedkar memorial, that was spruced up for
Wednesday's show.

Source: IANS

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

[ZESTCaste] BSP, Cong laocked in a keen battle to woo Dalits

[ZESTCaste] Dalit face missing, BJP still out to climb bandwagon

[ZESTCaste] Battle for Dalit votes hots up in Bihar

[ZESTCaste] Rahul versus Maya on Ambedkar Jayanti

[ZESTCaste] Mayawati paints Lucknow blue for Ambedkar anniversary

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