If the Gandhi family can have statues, why not Mayawati?
Oct 20, 2011
by Anirudha Dutta
Earlier this year, I was in a village in Medak district of Andhra
Pradesh witnessing one of the group meetings of a micro-finance
institution (MFI). After the meeting I spoke to a woman in one of the
groups and asked her who she would vote for if elections were to be
held soon. I was half expecting the old woman to say YSR, the former
chief minister who had died last year and was the architect of many
pro-poor and pro-women schemes. I was stunned when she said, "Indira
amma". Yes, I did hear her correctly. The old woman still 'voted' for
Indira amma, who had died in 1984. The Gandhi family magic at work.
I have since wondered what gives the "first family" of India such an
enduring hold over the imagination of a large cross-section of the
Indian population. My eureka moment came about a month back, when I
was in New Delhi. As I was criss-crossing the city, I saw a large
number of tourist buses parked in front of various tourist attractions
— most of them memorials to various members of the Nehru-Gandhi
family. So, for 365 days a year, tourists from far and wide come to
the capital city, and apart from seeing historical monuments, the only
must-visits are the odes to various members of the Nehru-Gandhi
dynasty. Is it surprising, then, that the family is held in such high
esteem by millions across the country?
The family realizes it; that is why no leader other than one with the
Gandhi surname is allowed such monuments and shrines in the capital
city. We do not see such monuments, roads, parks, or airports named
after P V Narasimha Rao. The poor guy – who, along with Vajpayee, was,
arguably the best Prime Minister India has ever had – did not even get
a burial in the capital city of the country, let alone a memorial.
But there is one person who has grasped this truth and is not willing
to play by the dynasty rules – Mayawati. She is ensuring that her
legacy will endure in the Dalit pantheon, alongside Ambedkar, Kanshi
Ram and others. This is why she has built innumerable parks honouring
various Dalit leaders, including herself. I heard a Dalit woman on one
of the news channels say that each time she takes her children to this
park, they will feel proud that their leaders have come of age; that
they are now able to build such monuments dedicated to Dalits. While
the glitterati and the chatteratti may not like Mayawati's brazen ode
to herself and her seeming lack of taste and aesthetics, Dalits
support her, saying they need such symbols in a country where there
are monuments honouring everyone except them. Mayawati understands
this psyche.
The media has been up in arms because Mayawati has spent Rs685 crores
on the Noida park. This money, they say, could have been better spent
on schools, colleges and hospitals. Sure. But the same can be said
about all the prime land that has been usurped by the Gandhi family in
the name of various family trusts to build memorials. What is the
value of the land and residences usurped by the Gandhi name?
Mayawati knows exactly what she is doing, although it may cause
resentment, mirth, and dismay among the rich, and in the English news
media.
The parks give Dalits a sense of pride, and motivate them and spur
them. There's nothing wrong in building parks – they've been part and
parcel of Indian politics. There will now be some respite from the
Nehru- Gandhi family parks, museums and statues we have been inundated
with as a nation.
I do wish that Mayawati was also building schools, universities,
vocational training institutes, hospitals and factories. But
politically it is not the same thing; tourists and visitors will not
go there to gawk at them, feel a sense of reverence or gain a sense of
identity because of them.
Hopefully those will come in the next five years.
Anirudha Dutta is a financial analyst with a global investment bank
and based in Mumbai. He loves to write on a variety of subjects and
hopes to get his clients engaged in them, even though some of the
topics would be at a reasonable distance from the stock markets. Like
all good bongs he loves his phish and phoochka, but unlike them he is
not passionate about phootball.
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