Latest News Update: Jan 10, 2012

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

[ZESTCaste] 'Kushwaha will help us expose Maya'

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-10/lucknow/30611510_1_bjp-kalyan-singh-bsp

'Kushwaha will help us expose Maya'
TNN Jan 10, 2012, 05.44AM IST

LUCKNOW: In the hot seat since he welcomed a sheepish Babusingh
Kushwaha three days ago, BJP vice-president Vinay Katiyar has known no
peace.

The din about the "sell-out aided by UP leaders" - even though the
party has suspended the membership of the tainted former BSP minister
- seems to be getting louder by the day. First, Kalyan Singh and now
AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi has publicly alleged that Maya's
pointsman paid his way into the BJP.

However, the veteran leader from Ayodhya knows how to catch and throw
back the brickbats coming his way. "I have faced worst during the
Janambhoomi andolan ... this is tame stuff comparatively," he tells
Manajari Mishra, before he patiently explains how the set-a-thief- to-
catch-a -thief bid will shake and stir election ...

Q. What prompted the BJP to adopt Kushwaha? A senior leader, you must
have known that taking in one of the most corrupt faces in Mayawati
cabinet would lead to major tremors within the party and also among
voters. What was the compulsion?

I am a disciplined soldier of the BJP. If given a task, I try to carry
it out with the best of my ability. So once the party decided to
induct Kushwaha, I carried out the orders. I can't be faulted on this.

Q. Were you not aware that muck would fly once Kushwaha gained entry
into BJP, a party with a difference, as it likes to be called. BJP
today has become a laughing stock.

Ans. I won't say that. Let some days pass ... just wait for a
fortnight and then see how dramatically the scenario changes. Kuswaha
is just a mean to reach Maya's jugular. The man is extremely useful.
Even Lord Ram with all his divine might could not have slain the demon
king Ravana had his estranged brother Vibhishana not tipped him about
the secret of Ravan's longevity. Kushwaha will provide us the most
vital clues to nail Maya which CBI, under instruction from Congress,
would love to sweep under the carpet. I would request BJP supporters
to show some patience.

Q. Do you have any reason to suspect the CBI, or your allegations
against the investigating agency are part of the usual poll-time
rhetoric?

A. If CBI were actually impartial, it would have started with chief
minister Mayawati who by virtue of her office happened to be the
chairperson of NRHM; it would have gone after senior IAS officers who
signed files to help state-sponsored swindling. Why are the prime
suspects off the hook? Why are they targeting smaller fry and letting
off the big fish?

Q. Kushwha episode has provided your political rivals enough
ammunition against the party. Kalyan Singh and Rahul Gandhi have
slammed the BJP for the Kushwaha sell-out. Both leaders have publicly
alleged that Kushwaha paid his way into the party.

A. Kalyan Singh ji is my old colleague who enjoyed a high stature in
BJP once . Therefore, I would not like to comment on him. But, Rahul
must first look at his own men and women before pointing fingers. Let
him talk about the kickback taken by Sheila Dixit and Raja first.

Q. From supporting Mayawatii three times in UP to making her the prime
target, BJP has come a long way indeed. What has brought about such a
drastic change?

Ans. Primarily her corruption and incompetence. Over the past five
years, Mayawati has arm-twisted and milked her ministers to make a
pile. And though by dropping ministers and MLAs she is pretending to
purge her party, we know she is only replacing the used ones with a
fresh bunch with better paying capacity. I tell you, Mayawati needs to
be exposed. And this is where Kushwaha will come handy.

Q. But how about the demoralized cadre you face now? No one is happy.
Senior leaders like Maneka Gandhi, Yogi Adityanath etc have gone on
record with their dissent.

A. Many senior characters in Mahabharata had to go through trying
phase. It happens. But everyone will come around ... they already
have. As I said, BJP is a disciplined party. So there actually is no
problem. All this news about rift within the party is a sponsored
propaganda which deserves to be ignored.

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[ZESTCaste] With just one day to go, covering up statues of Mayawati, elephant begins

http://www.ndtv.com/article/assembly-polls/with-just-one-day-to-go-covering-up-statues-of-mayawati-elephant-begins-165311

With just one day to go, covering up statues of Mayawati, elephant begins

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: January 10, 2012 17:34 IST

Noida/Lucknow: They have been given time till 5 pm on Wednesday by
the Election Commission and UP's jumbo cover-up operation has only
just begun. Authorities in Lucknow and Noida have started draping
giant statues of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and the
elephant, the symbol of her Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) in pink -
plastic for the elephants, cloth for Mayawati.

Most of Monday was spent on working out finer details like which
agency will have the honour of covering up the many stone elephants
and 11 massive Mayawati statues across the state; and in strategy
sessions to decide what colour the plastic used should be. Pink won.

Work began late also because the height of these structures make the
veiling a gigantic task. In Lucknow alone, there are nine Mayawati
statues and 25 elephants along with innumerable elephant-shaped door
handles, Mayawati pillars, the Mayawati chakra, and elephant fountains
of different shapes and sizes. Till late on Monday, the authorities
were still figuring out from where they should begin this
'elephantine' task.

"We are still discussing who will do it," said Arvind Trivedi, the
General Manager of the Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nagar Nigam on Monday. On
Sunday, the Noida Authority ran out of plastic to cover the statues,
after which some 1,500 metres of it was ordered to avoid further
embarrassment. The Noida park, unveiled with considerable fanfare only
a few months ago by the chief minister, has two Mayawatis and 52
elephants that will need draping.

The Election Commission's order to cover up the statues ahead of the
assembly polls has sparked off a debate with many political parties,
including Mayawati's rivals, saying they are bewildered by the order.
JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav, who is also the convenor of the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) which includes the BJP, the fourth political
angle in the UP elections, said, "We don't know on whose advice this
decision has been taken. Those are statues and especially the
elephants; you go anywhere in India, you go to Khajuraho, Konark,
elephants will look like elephants...These are nonsensical talks even
if Congress says so or Mayawati says so. This is utter nonsense."

And the BSP's SC Mishra asked, "Will the Election Commission also ban
the cycle during the elections in the state?" The bicycle is the
symbol of Mayawati's archrival Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.

The Election Commission has defended its decision, saying this is to
ensure free and fair elections, but many have expressed skepticism
over whether it will achieve its purpose. "A covered Mayawati statue
will get more attention than an uncovered one. People will say, 'Oh
that is Mayawati's statue covered,'" tweeted actor Anupam Kher. And
author Chetan Bhagat said, "Either you don't let them erect statues
first place, or let them be. Poor people need blankets more than the
statues need drapes. Doesn't draping the elephant statues in Lucknow
bring even more attention to them?"

"I think those who want to draw inspiration from it have been doing it
for that long, you think they will forget it in the next two months,
and the people of UP are smart voters," said Ranjana Shukla, a
tourist at the Lucknow memorial.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/assembly-polls/with-just-one-day-to-go-covering-up-statues-of-mayawati-elephant-begins-165311&cp

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati's assets: Highest at Rs.87 crore

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/mayawatis-assets-highest-rs87-crore-582

Mayawati's assets: Highest at Rs.87 crore

January 10, 2012
IANS
Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati tops the list of chief ministers
in the five election-bound states with maximum assets worth Rs.87
crore and 46 per cent of her ministers have criminal cases pending
against them, according to data released Tuesday by an NGO and a
non-political organisation.

"RTI responses from five states showed Mayawati has the highest assets
at Rs.87 crore," said the data.

"Chief Minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh has the lowest assets at
just Rs.6 lakh."

Around one-third of a total of 100 ministers in the five states of
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur have self-declared
pending criminal charges, showed the data.

NGO National Election Watch and non-political organisation Association
for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released the data on the basis of a study
linked to RTI responses by state governments.

Punjab's Parkash Singh Badal is the only chief minister who has got a
criminal case, related to cheating and forgery, against him, said the
study. He has assets worth Rs.9 crore, according to the study.

In comparison, Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri has assets
worth Rs.1.69 crore and his Goa counterpart Digambar Kamat has assets
worth Rs.3.2 crore.

All five chief ministers are graduates. Khanduri is a post-graduate.

According to the report, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum percentage of
ministers (46 per cent) with pending criminal cases.

Of these, 30 per cent ministers have serious criminal cases like
murder and attempt to murder against them.

Punjab has 39 percent ministers with pending criminal cases followed
by 33 per cent in Uttarakhand and 8 per cent in Goa. No Manipur
minister is facing criminal cases.

Similarly, out of the 690 legislators analysed, 190 have criminal
cases against them. Out of these, 89 had serious charges against them.

Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 143 such law makers while Punjab
has 20, Uttarakhand 17, Goa 9 in Goa and Manipur one.

According to the report, 239 of 690 legislators in the five states
have assets running into crores of rupees, with Punjab having the
maximum 67 per cent, followed by Goa 55 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 32 per
cent, Uttarakhand 16 per cent and Manipur 2 per cent.

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[ZESTCaste] Pink cover for Mayawati, elephants to cost Rs 1 crore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygYEOq3lfmI

UP: Pink cover for Mayawati, elephants to cost Rs 1 crore

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati statue cover-up: SY Quraishi defends move (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkXbhE96pvU

Mayawati statue cover-up: SY Quraishi defends move

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[ZESTCaste] A mammoth task to cover Mayawati and her jumbos

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws100112UTTAR.asp

Posted on 10 January 2012
CURRENT AFFAIRS
UTTAR PRADESH

A mammoth task to cover Mayawati and her jumbos

Labourers race against time to drape the statues of the Chief Minister
and her party symbol

Samarth Saran
Noida

It's a mammoth task few would like to undertake. Draping several
statues of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and her party symbol, the
elephant—erected across the state after wasting crores of government
funds—is a jumbo operation that has to be finished by Wednesday.

While the Election Commission of India has directed the District
Election Officers of Lucknow and Noida to finish 'Operation Cover Up'
by Wednesday to prevent the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party from gaining
political mileage by using the sculptors in the forthcoming Assembly
elections, contractors and labourers are racing against time to finish
the daunting task. They could even slog in the shivering temperature
to meet the deadline.

Thirty-five-year-old Rampal had draped 15 small elephant statues with
pink polythene by late Tuesday afternoon skipping his lunch as the
workload had increased suddenly. As TV cameras and reporters, along
with curious onlookers, gathered at the site, Rampal fails to fathom
the urgency in covering the statues. "Few months ago, we were being
pressured to complete these statues. Now, we have been told to cover
them at the earliest," a busy Rampal tells TEHELKA while draping a
statue.

Rampal, who hails from Rajasthan, has been carving out statues at the
Dalit Prerna Sthal, Noida, for the last two years. He proudly shows
one of his works in the park. The Dalit Prerna Sthal was inaugurated
last October costing a whooping Rs 685 crore.

While the elephants were draped in pink polythene, special care was
being taken to cover the statue of Mayawati. A wooden structure was
erected around her life-size statue and while the huge elephants were
draped in not more than 20-25 minutes, it almost took the entire day
to cover the gigantic symbol of her narcissistic cravings in pink
cloth.

Officials say that about 70 elephant statues and four effigies of the
Chief Minister will be covered in the Gautam Budh Nagar district. "The
statues will be covered by Wednesday noon and report will be send to
the EC by evening," Hridesh Kumar, District Magistrate, Gautam Budh
Nagar, told TEHELKA. When asked about the cost involved, Kumar said
that he was not in the loop as the expenditure was being borne by the
Noida and Greater Noida Authority.

Now, entering Noida via Kalindi Kunj, four statues draped in pink
polythene greet commuters instead of the usual elephants, which
explicitly portrayed Behenji's penchant for power display. While
Monday was spent on choosing the polythene colour and working out
other details, pink won the race as it does not represent any party's
official colour. Incidentally, Mayawati has been often spotted wearing
pink clothes and sporting a handbag of the same colour.

Darpesh, one of the contractors in charge of covering the statues,
informs that the labour has almost been doubled. "Earlier, labourers
were covering just one side. Now, both the sides are being covered
simultaneously," he says pointing to the 20 huge elephant statues at
Dalit Prerna Sthal. According to Darpesh, about 200 labourers are
involved in covering these statues and the work could go on till late
night. "As we have been asked to work unless all the statues are
covered, we might end up working all through the night."

With the possibility of the DM inspecting the work progress, labourers
have been instructed to work at a frenetic pace. They miss the
much-needed, quick tea break as they move to cover the next jumbo.

Samarth Saran is a Correspondent with Tehelka.com.
samarth@tehelka.com

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[ZESTCaste] Helicopters for BSP campaign

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/helicopters-bsp-campaign-753

Helicopters for BSP campaign

January 11, 2012
Correspondent
New Delhi

Faced with an all-out attack by rivals, the ruling BSP in Uttar
Pradesh is all set to unleash aerial raids by party leaders in a bid
to avert slump in fortune in the poll-bound state.
While BSP supremo Mayawati is set to embark on an aggressive campaign,
she has assigned a helicopter each to party troika Satish Chandra
Mishra, Nasimuddin Siddiqui and Swami Prasad Mourya to fan out the
nook and corner of the state.
Ms Mayawati, who has reportedly a pair of helicopters, will address
three rallies each a day to cover 75 districts of the state till the
electioneering comes to an end in the state. While Ms Mayawati will
play the dalit card to ward off any attempt by her rivals to make
inroad in the 22 per cent vote base, the party troika has a special
task cut out for them. "Mr Mishra, Mr Siddiqui and Mr Mourya, hailing
from Brahmin, Muslim and OBC community, will address as many public
meetings as possible individually. They have been given a free hand
along with logistic support to ensure that their community sticks to
the party," said a senior BSP functionary.
The BSP supremo will stay in UP after January 24, till then she would
have spent two days each in campaigning for the party in Uttarakhand
and Punjab.
However, the role of the BSP troika appears critical for the prospect
of the party. Therefore, said the BSP functionary, they would be freed
from the role of playing a support cast in Ms Mayawati's rallies.
The campaign strategy of the BSP also indicates return of Mr Mishra in
leading political role, as he was earlier confined to only legal work
of the party.
Mr Siddiqui, who happens to be the most powerful minister in the
Mayawati council of ministers, is being expected to ensure that the
Muslims do not desert the party.
After the sacking of the tainted minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, Mr
Mourya appears to be the only hope of the party to win the OBC votes
in the state.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati blocks rural plan to keep dalits in fold

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/mayawati-blocks-rural-plan-keep-dalits-fold-399

Mayawati blocks rural plan to keep dalits in fold

January 10, 2012
By MANISH ANAND
DC
New Delhi

To prevent the Congress from taking any credit, Uttar Pradesh chief
minister and BSP supremo Mayawati has blocked the Centre's move to get
the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna (PMAGY), meant for over 50 per
cent Scheduled Caste population villages, implemented in the state.

Also, playing her electoral card, she has ensured over 50 per cent
dalit participation in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)
schemes in the state in the past four years.

The national average for dalit participation in the flagship scheme is
just 30 per cent. With Uttar Pradesh having the country's largest SC
population, officials see political compulsions in the state's
decision to not send any proposal for PMAGY.

Senior Uttar Pradesh officials said, however, that the state has a
better alternative, in which Rs 1 crore is spent for the all-round
development of a village having a sizeable dalit population.

The PMAGY too targets holistic development of such villages, but under
it expenditure is capped at Rs 10 lakhs.

"Why would the BSP government allow the Congress-led UPA government at
the Centre take credit for having ushered in development in dalit
villages," a senior member of Ms Mayawati's party asked.

Apart from PMAGY, the Mayawati led UP government appears to have taken
special care to ensure maximum Dalit participation in the
implementation of MG-NREGA. Ministry of rural development's data
suggest that the UP had about 54 per cent SC participation in the
MG-NREGA in 2010-11, 2008-09, while it was 56 per cent in 2009-10.

The national average for the same hovers around 30 per cent only. Over
50 per cent Dalit participation in the job scheme is in contrast to a
mere 20 per cent participation of women in UP, which has been slammed
on a number of occasions by Centre for not meeting the mandatory 33
per cent norms.

The ruling BSP, hit by scams and corruption charges, is relying
heavily on 22 per cent Dalit vote bank for its success in the
forthcoming Assembly polls.

"The BSP is the only political party, which takes a headstart with 22
per cent Dalit vote base over the rival and addition of some other
caste groups effectively makes the party a front runner in the state,"
added the BSP functionary.

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[ZESTCaste] Annihilation of debate is annihilation of politics: Arundhati Roy

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/annihilation-debate-annihilation-politics-arundhati-roy-403

Annihilation of debate is annihilation of politics: Arundhati Roy

January 10, 2012
DC
chennai

Arundhati Roy reacts to the objection to her attending the fair
organised by The Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South
India.

"The protest began when The Cage by Gordon Weiss (former UN
spokesperson in Sri Lanka) was released.

The book indicts the Sri Lankan government for war crimes, but is also
sharply critical of the LTTE's tactics. The protestors did not mention
the book, but accused the publishers of being RSS, anti-Dalit,
anti-Tamil, anti-Kashmir and anti-Muslim.

I was a little puzzled, because the books being released were a
collection of haunting poems by Cheran, the well-known Tamil poet, a
book on Dalits and Water by Ko. Raghupathy, a book on Dalit politics
and culture by Stalin Rajangam, Curfewed Night, a memoir about Kashmir
by Basharat Peer and Broken Republic about the Maoist insurrection, by
me, all of which completely bely the accusations being hurled at the
publisher.

On Facebook the protestors call themselves the May 17th Fighters. (May
17th is the day the war in Sri Lanka officially ended.) It appears
that their main objection was Weiss's criticism of the LTTE.

Whether Weiss is right or wrong in his analysis is not the point.
After a war in which an estimated 40,000 Tamils, mostly civilians were
killed, I cannot believe that people want to shut out the possibility
of debate, of introspection about what went wrong.

It is an insult to the memory of those who were killed as well as to
those Tamils who survived and have to continue to live in Sri Lanka.

The annihilation of criticism, introspection, debate, difference of
opinion, is the annihilation of politics itself. It is a way of
thinking and acting that could have been one of the reasons for the
LTTE's defeat."

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[ZESTCaste] Powerpuff girls who rule Indian politics

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/powerful-women-politicians-mamata-maya-uma-bharti-jayalalithaa/1/168014.html

Mail Today Bureau New Delhi, January 10, 2012 | UPDATED 09:54 IST
Powerpuff girls who rule Indian politics

Mayawati: The self-proclaimed messiah

NAME: Mayawati, 55
POSITIONS HELD: CM of Uttar Pradesh, president of Bahujan Samaj Party.
Serving her fourth term as UP CM
BETTER KNOWN AS: Behenji
She is the self-proclaimed messiah of poor Dalits but the plight of
the underprivileged has worsened under her rule. She raises her voice
against corruption at the Centre yet runs a state government that is
graft personified. She never loses an opportunity to take a jibe at
the very political rivals whom she has piggybacked to ascend to power.
She banks on confidants to keep her flush with funds but jettisons
them at the drop of a hat.

This, in a nutshell, is Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj
Party supremo Mayawati- whimsical, volatile and opportunistic. In a
recent display of mood swings, she gave the green light to a dozen
officials to fall in line with an Election Commission directive and
cover the statues at Ambedkar Memorial. But even before the officials
could begin obeying her command, they were asked to return.

Look at most powerful women politicians

It is widely believed that Mayawati allowed her government's former
family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha to function as the de
facto CM because he was her chief fund-raiser. But when he faced the
heat from investigating agencies, she dropped him like a hot potato.
Her brazen political expediency came to the fore when she sidelined
Rajya Sabha member and BSP's Brahmin face Satish Chandra Mishra a year
after winning the 2007 assembly elections, during which she had wooed
the upper castes. With the state set to go to the polls again,
Mayawati has re-inducted Mishra into her core team.
UP Congress Committee spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi did not mince
words while describing Mayawati: "She can do anything anytime. She
believes dust will give her isnophilia, so officials are told to wash
the roads that fall on her route. In her book, she has compared
herself with Mughal emperor Babar and Queen Victoria."

Soon after taking over as CM in May 2007, Mayawati alleged that the
Congress wanted to eliminate her. Yet she offered outside support to
the Congress-led UPA-II in 2009 without batting an eyelid. Now, she
had begun spewing venom at the grand old party again.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, spokesperson of the UP BJP, with which she has
hobnobbed several times in the past before parting ways amid acrimony,
said: "I want to remind Mayawati how her party had supported the
candidature of K.R. Narayanan as President owing to his Dalit status.
However, the BSP didn't back him for a second term because he didn't
impose President's rule in the state as she wished."

Mamata Banerjee: The enfant terrible

NAME: Mamata Banerjee, 56
POSITIONS HELD: CM of West Bengal, president of All India Trinamool Congress
BETTER KNOWN AS: Didi
Mamata has been consistently inconsistent, always switching sides,
changing friends, opinions and political allies.

She is probably the only leader who could swing from right to left,
from Maoists to security forces, from being the BJP's poster woman to
strike a 'namaaz' pose for poll posters. Now, a UPA enfant terrible,
Mamata was once the Youth Congress general secretary.

She snapped ties with the Congress in the late 90s and joined the
BJP-led NDA but soon walked out of it to strike an electoral tie-up
with the Congress. There is nothing predictable about her politics.
Even in West Bengal where she achieved probably the biggest upset win
in Indian politics by uprooting over three-decade-old rule by
Leftists, Mamata was often seen switching sides. Sometimes it was to
secure the 27% Muslim votes and sometimes to get Maoists by her side.

"Inconsistency has been a key feature in her (Mamata) political
career. All her decisions are guided by selfinterest," senior West
Bengal Congress leader Arunava Ghosh said. Once her Trinamool Congress
started emerging as the principal opposition to the ruling communists
in Bengal, Mamata took no time to dump the BJP and join hands with the
Congress to consolidate her base in the state. Her party's win in the
2008 panchayat polls prompted her to form an alliance with the
Congress and it paid in the 2009 general elections and the 2011
high-voltage assembly elections.

But even a landslide win has not tempered her. Within seven months she
is back to bickering with Congress and flouting the coalition dharma
with impunity. Once seen as a pro-Maoist politician, she has been
always vocal about the rights of the tribal population. But soon after
assuming power in the state, Mamata took a complete U-turn. Though she
had offered special package for the rebels but never tried to initiate
peace talks with them. According to political analyst Udayan Banerjee,
Mamata is changing the contours of Bengal politics by superimposing
the politics of identity and community over the class politics of the
Left.

Uma Bharti: The volatile sanyasin
NAME: Uma Bharti,52
POSITIONS HELD: CM of Madhya Pradesh in 2003. Senior BJP leader
BETTER KNOWN AS: Sexy Sanyasin
A Pamphlet distributed during assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh in
2003 listed Uma Bharti's ideological inspirations in the following
sequence - Che Guevara, Schumacher and Hanumanjee!

Though Uma would have perhaps made little distinction between the
intended inspirational figure - E. F. Schumacher, the writer of Small
is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered - and the Formula One
racing driver, the choice of ideals was as uniquely eclectic as the
lady herself. To this end, the suspected author of the pamphlet -
Uma's mentor K.N. Govindacharya - had hit the Bull's Eye.

Indeed, the saffron-robed sadhvi is a planet unto herself. Consider
the admirable grit that saw her rise from being the teller of epics
from nondescript Tikamgarh to the power corridors in Lutyens' Delhi.
She combines this determination with a rare warmth and charisma that
has few equals.

Hence she rose from the dust and demolition of the Ramjanmabhoomi. She
enthralled and repelled at the same time, hugging Murli Manohar Joshi
to celebrate the mosque demolition in an epical free-frame.

It was only a matter of time before she became a minister in NDA
government though the portfolios needed to be constantly shifted as
she quarreled incessantly with her seniors. The glory of her
subsequent triumph over Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh was
shortlived as the BJP got her to resign within a year.

Distraught, Uma fought openly with L.K. Advani in an unforgettable
meeting at the BJP headquarters. It saw her being suspended and, being
taken back a few months later at the instance of the RSS. By this
time, circa 2005, Uma had driven everyone to the brink with her
demands to be re-appointed MP CM. Sanjay Joshi, with whom she is
ironically working now in UP, was one of her famous victims. The story
goes that she locked herself in a room in the party office with Joshi
and would not let him out.

A harassed office secretary sent his wife to plead with Uma, fearful
as he was of hearing the colourful flurry of expletives she would have
inevitably hurled. The poor woman was subjected to such verbal abuse
that finally, a very senior leader had to intervene. Uma was sacked
subsequently after similar extraordinary capers but she is back again.
Though she is keeping an admirable hold over her free spirit, it is
almost certain that her mercurial self will assert once more. It is
not natural for her to be the picture of sobriety, after all.

Jayalalithaa: Impulsive diva who keeps them guessing

NAME: J.Jayalalithaa, 63
POSITIONS HELD: CM of Tamil Nadu,general secretary of AIADMK. She had
been CM of Tamil Nadu in 1991 and 2001.
BETTER KNOWN AS: Amma
What will be her next move? Is the question what most people around
Jayalalithaa keep asking. More so when she is in power.

The Poes Garden diva is known for her whimsical decisions, which does
not discriminate between friends or foes. The banishment of V.K.
Sasikala, her confidant of over two decades is the most recent
instance which establishes her unpredictability. She took a similar
step after losing power in 1996, but within months the two friends
were back together.

Her fickle-minded decisions have turned her cabinet into a game of
musical chairs, in which every legislator is waiting to be inducted
into the ministry. Most of them who are dropped are busy thinking
about the reasons for their exit. IAS and IPS officers are treated
with same nonchalance.

Her stance over the protest against Kudankulam nuclear power project
and the issue of clemency for the trio facing the noose for Rajiv
Gandhi's assassination case is also a case in point. Within days of
declaring that the state could do nothing for Rajiv's killers, she got
a resolution passed in the assembly pressing for clemency to them.
Similarly, soon after claiming that the nuclear plant was safe, her
cabinet asked the Centre to suspend all operations. Columnist Gnani
Sankaran said: "Politicians are fickle-minded and Jaya is no
exception. We can expect more such actions in the days to come."

With inputs from Piyush Srivastava, M.C. Rajan, Soudhriti Bhabani and
Poornima Joshi

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/powerful-women-politicians-mamata-maya-uma-bharti-jayalalithaa/1/168014.html

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[ZESTCaste] Now, upper caste youth attack dalits for playing DJ at wedding

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-10/india/30611067_1_dalit-youth-upper-caste-youth-wedding-venue

Now, upper caste youth attack dalits for playing DJ at wedding
Deepender Deswal, TNN Jan 10, 2012, 06.17AM IST

ROHTAK: The marriage function of a dalit youth was violently disrupted
by a group of upper caste youth, which resulted in injuries to eight
persons, including two women, in Gurthali village of Jind district on
Sunday night.

The miscreants allegedly tried to forcibly stop DJ being played at the
wedding venue and also molested some women. On being opposed, they
assaulted the groom's family and guests. A case has been registered
against seven persons and police have been deployed in the village as
a precautionary measure.

The incident comes nearly a month after a dalit youth was forcibly
stopped from undertaking elephant ride by some upper caste youth in
Devsar village of Bhiwani, reflecting continued bias and narrow
mindset among upper caste members towards dalits in rural Haryana.

Police sources said the incident occurred when family members and
guests at the marriage function of a dalit youth Gurvinder Singh, son
of Prathi Singh, were dancing to the tunes of DJ near their house.
Soon, some upper caste youth arrived there and started making vulgar
comments on women at the function.

When the dalits opposed their indecent behaviour, a youth, Zodha,
along with other accomplices, turned violent and forcibly stopped
playing of DJ. Soon they started beating up people gathered at the
wedding venue. Those injured in the incident were identified as
Jagshir, Gurmit, Manjeet, Ompal, Gurmit Devi, Sharti Devi, Mewa Singh
and Jagta, sources said.

Police have registered a case on the complaint of a dalit youth,
Bindra, who identified the accused as Zodha, Makkar, Ramniwas,
Surender, Balraj, Desa and Jasminder.

Investigating officer in the case, Suresh Kumar, said police force has
been deployed in the village, but the accused were absconding. "Police
teams have been raiding suspected hideouts to nab the accused and hope
to arrest them soon", he said, adding that the situation is peaceful
in the village.
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[ZESTCaste] Dalit chamber plans Rs 500-cr venture capital fund

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2790586.ece

Dalit chamber plans Rs 500-cr venture capital fund
Our Bureau

Proposed fund is likely to be operational by August
Hyderabad, Jan. 10:

The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) is planning
to create a venture capital fund with Rs 500 crore to provide seed
capital to Dalit entrepreneurs.

This was disclosed by Mr Milind Kamble, Founder-Chairman of DICCI, at
a function to launch the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the industry body
held here on Tuesday.

The proposed fund is likely to be operational by August this year.

The recent decision by the Union Government facilitating public sector
units to procure at least four per cent of their requirements from
Dalit entrepreneurs could generate a business of Rs 7,000 crore every
year in various segments, he added.

"Our association will act as a nodal agency to implement this
decision," he added.

Mr G Vivekanand, industrialist and Member of Parliament, asked the
State Government to pass a legislation to help the business
development of Dalit entrepreneurs.

It should also set up an exclusive venture capital fund to provide
seed capital to the Dalits, he added.

Mr N. Ravi Kumar, President of AP Chapter of DICCI, said banks were
not coming forward to provide loans to Dalits to set up/develop
businesses.

The Government should tie-up with banks to facilitate easy
availability of credit to Dalit businesses, he added.

Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Damodar Rajanarasimha formally launched the
State Chapter.

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