http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-10-22/news/30309793_1_dalits-prime-minister-meira-kumar
Will Meira Kumar be Congress' surprise choice?
IANS Oct 22, 2011, 10.53am IST
Does the Congress have an ace up its sleeve? If Mayawati's surmise is
to be believed, the Grand Old Party is planning to announce the
nomination of a Dalit prime minister just before next year's assembly
elections in Uttar Pradesh.
According to her, it can be either Meira Kumar or Sushil Kumar Shinde.
However, prima facie, the former appears to be a better choice. But,
whatever the relative merits, it is patent enough that any such
announcement will unnerve Mayawati more than anything else.
At one stroke, her principal adversary would have severely eroded her
only dependable base of support. If large sections of Dalits turn
away, there is nothing that can prop her up, not least because there
is little that she can show on the development front, other than
gradiose, extravagant projects.
How nervous she is about this supposedly captive vote bank of hers was
evident when she castigated Rahul Gandhi for spending time in Dalit
homes, alleging that he washed himself with a "special soap" on
returning to Delhi. That she could turn to whipping up the age-old
casteist sentiments despite her claims to be leading a rainbow
coalition showed that she banked on none other than the Dalits.
The announcement of a Dalit prime ministerial candidate will therefore
put her at a serious disadvantage if only because she can no longer
rouse the kind of ingrained animus among her core group of supporters
that she can against upper caste opponents.
But it isn't Mayawati alone who will be foxed. None of the other
parties will know how to react, for it is not easy to take up
political cudgels against someone who can be India's first Dalit prime
minister. The difficulty will be all the greater because Meira Kumar
will be fulfilling her father's ambition if she succeeds.
The highest position which her father Jagjivan Ram achieved in his
lifetime was to be the No.2 deputy prime minister after Charan Singh
in Morarji Desai's Janata Party government of 1977-79. Otherwise, he
never rose above the rank of a senior cabinet minister when in the
Congress despite his reputation as an able administrator.
Meira Kumar, of course, does not have her father's stature. In fact,
it is only as the Lok Sabha speaker that she seems to have come into
her own, creating a favourable impression about her dignity and an
aptitude for maintaining order in a generally unruly house. Her stint
in the Indian Foreign Service seems to have enhanced her sense of
decorum and restraint.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/
No comments:
Post a Comment