Latest News Update: Mar 9, 2012

Friday, March 9, 2012

[ZESTCaste] Mayawati resigns as Uttar Pradesh CM (video)

http://video.in.msn.com/watch/video/mayawati-resigns-as-uttar-pradesh-cm/24s50nb6y?cpkey=f0bc30c9-e4fe-4bfe-9828-0ffea2315e4e||||

Mayawati resigns as Uttar Pradesh CM
Addressing media after handing over her resignation to Governor B.L.
Joshi in the state capital, the BSP chief said, "I had taken over the
reins of Uttar Pradesh in 2007 when the state was in a poor
condition".

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[ZESTCaste] The victor and the vanquished in UP's political juggernaut.

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/03/08/273713-The-victor-and-the-vanquished-in-UP-s-political-juggernaut-.html

The victor and the vanquished in UP's political juggernaut.
New Delhi, Thu, 08 Mar 2012 ANI

New Delhi, Mar.8 (ANI): "Mayawati ka soopda saaf (Mayawati has been
wiped off Uttar Pradesh), Congress-BhaajPa ka raasta napa (Even
Congress and BJP have been defeated), Akhilesh Bhaiya ke saath bhai
(With Akhilesh Yadav at the lead brother) and Phir jeeti hai SaPa!
(The Samajwadi Party has won again!) -- these were some of the many
fiery strains that reverberated through the air outside Samajwadi
Party headquarters in Lucknow on March 6, as news broke about its
performance in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh elections.

Hundreds of ecstatic SP workers, activists and leaders broke into a
loud applause with cheer and joy, distributing sweets, shouting
slogans, as reports of the party's victory spread across the state
like wildfire.

Undoubtedly, the Bahujan Samaj Party's rout in the UP polls is a
stunner. Though most exit polls conducted over the past few months had
revealed a pro-SP wave flowing through the state, most psephologists
and pundits had not anticipated its true power.

In the 403-member State Assembly, the SP secured a majority 225 seats,
comfortably crossing the 203-seat mark required to bag an absolute
majority in the election - and gaining a comfortable victory over its
principle political rivals in the state.

While the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party could only secure 79 seats,
the two main national parties contesting the polls- the Congress and
the Bharatiya Janata Party-also faced major embarrassments.

The BJP-India's main opposition, that had hoped for a revival of
fortune in UP in the polls-won only 47 seats, while the Congress-whose
top brass, particularly Nehru-Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi had
actively led the party from the front in the state-secured only 28
seats.

Two questions, naturally, come to mind. The first is why and how did
the SP manage the miracle of sorts? The other, why didn't other
parties, especially Rahul Gandhi's Congress, fail so miserably?

Till last year, the UP elections were thought to be a clear and
obvious battle between the primarily regional SP and the BSP. Leaders
from SP were mobilising their cadres at the grassroots, preparing
grounds for consolidating the party's political vote-share.

The BSP-a party that claims to be representing the cause of the Dalits
-o n the other hand, was constructing parks and statues of its leaders
from public money, a gesture it said would be viewed as a symbol of a
'renewed Dalit consciousness and awakening.'

With the SP and the BSP emerging as the two main contenders, many
people felt the polls were not a fight for the good party, but for
choosing a lesser evil.

The SP-infamous for roping in criminals, musclemen and known goons
into its fold-had been defeated in the previous elections due to its
inability-and in many cases, for promoting or shielding criminals.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's penchant for minority Muslim votes-which earned
him the nickname 'Maulana Mulayam'-also irked upper class Hindu
voters.

On the other hand, the BSP's excessive indulgence in corruption and
lawlessness was the last straw on the camel's the back as far as the
people of Uttar Pradsh were concerned. Even the Dalits, whose cause
the BSP claimed to be championing, were disapproving of the party's
actions.

Ever since Mayawati-also known as the "Dalit Ki Beti", came to power
in 2007, the BSP became a virtual money-guzzling machine, with hushed
whispers in the corridors of power in Lucknow talking about how UP's
public exchequer was being misappropriated.

Meanwhile, the BJP joined the battle, seeking to get a mandate in its
former stronghold, UP. Raising the twin issues of corruption and
crime-to take on both the BSP and the SP-the main opposition attempted
to project one leader after the other in the polls, but alleged party
infighting and a lack of consensus led to the BJP's failure to present
its leading face.

The BJP put forward the names of several leaders-from former party
president Rajnath Singh to veteran leader and failed Prime Ministerial
aspirant Lal Krishna Advani and senior leader Kalraj Mishra to
right-wing ideologue and BJP leader Uma Bharti-but the party could not
get its permutations and combinations right to decide on who would
lead it from the front in the state.

Rahul Gandhi made a determined effort to reclaim a state that had been
his party's bastion for decades, upsetting poll calculations and
projections. Armed with a brigade of Congress loyalists, a dream in
his eye and fire in his heart, Gandhi set foot on unchartered
territory, championing the claim that Uttar Pradesh had gone to the
dogs in the 22 years since the Congress last ruled the state.

Initially, his frequent visits to UP villages-he ate bland chapattis
cooked by a Dalit woman, drank water from the wells, slept inside
thatched huts of the poorest of the poor, walked his way into villages
hoping to secure a place in peoples' hearts-started getting reams of
newsprint and precious television minutes on 24*7 news channels. Rahul
Gandhi was loved and hated at the same time-he was loved by villagers,
including young girls, who swooned over his 'charm,' his 'smile' and
his mannerisms, while his detractors and political opponents termed
him an immature politician.

Gradually, however, the love and awe turned into disillusionment and
disappointment, with the people of in UP's severely underdeveloped
rural interiors doubting Rahul Gandhi's ability to bring about the
'promised change.'

The Congress spoke in different voices and the image of the party
suffered, following the disclosure of multi-billion dollar scams, the
price rise, and a perceived governance deficit by the Congress-led
central government.

In the village bylanes, Rahul Gandhi's detractors coined jokes like
"Patakha liyo to Rahul Gandhi jaisa Kaka, chamak hai, chaundh hai, par
na hai koi dhamaka!" (If you buy a cracker, uncle, but one like Rahul
Gandhi, which has lots of light, but no sound!)

Sensing the peoples' mood, his political detractors' too began to see
Rahul Gandhi as a target of scathing jibes that reeked of sarcasm.
Many termed him 'yuvraj' (prince), while others lambasted him for
traveling in a cocooned, air-conditioned security cordon, being
totally inaccessible, sometimes to the party's own workers!

With Congress' Rahul Gandhi entering the fray, the SP, BSP and the BJP
smelled trouble. The election was now transforming into a four-way
battle royale, with the four leading contesting parties gnawing at one
other like piranhas.

The Congress' perceived failure of governance at the Centre-with price
rise and scams becoming the party's Achilles heel-the BJP's lack of
solid agenda, leadership or focus, the SP's support to criminals and
the BSP's corruption became the main issues for the local voter,
already sensitised by Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign.

In UP, considered to be one of India's most politically complex
states, it is quite easy to decode the voters' preferences only if one
knows where to look for it.

Face-to-face interviews and door-to-door surveys seldom reveal the
voter's real political affiliation. However, candid conversations with
locals in quaint, dingy roadside dhabas and tea shops; with
co-passengers in trains and buses; with the rickshaw-wallah and the
auto-wallah, and others can reveal interesting reactions and trends.

These are first stops for seasoned psephologists, sociologists,
researchers and journalists wishing to know how and for whom will a
particular community of an area vote in the elections.

Many months before February 2012, when voting in UP began, the
Samajwadi Party and the slow rise of its scion, Akhilesh Yadav started
to become buzzwords in local parlance in the aforementioned 'stops.'

The auto-wallahs and rickshawallahs were raving about the SP, more
'intellectual' debates among locals and community elders at tea shops
and dhabas disclosed a positive support for Akhilesh Yadav.

With the BSP's Mayawati losing ground among the youth and their
parents due to corruption, farmers' woes and underdevelopment, and the
BJP's sloppy stance on issues, the only options, claimed the 'local
intellectuals,' were the SP and the Congress.

Despite the white-kurta-rugged-stubble-look, Rahul Gandhi's image-that
of a protected, urban, mega rich and cocooned politician with nothing
but dreams to sell and verbal venom to spew at critics and
opponents-became his undoing.

People of Uttar Pradesh-one of India's worst-performing states in
socio-economic indices-who have been battling poverty, unemployment,
gross underdevelopment, lack of opportunities, illiteracy, abject
dearth of education and healthcare infrastructure, found it hard to
accept Rahul Gandhi's claims of bringing about a change in the state.

Considering that the Congress has been in power in the state for more
years than the combined tenures of other parties since independence,
Rahul Gandhi's speeches, never touched upon the Congress' repeated
failures at the Centre.

They felt that Rahul Gandhi only promised change, but never revealed
how he planned to achieve it.

Understandably, the poor and middle class people were stung by
skyrocketing prices of food and fuel, and they saw through Rahul
Gandhi, the man and the image.

Despite the blitzkrieg of campaigns addressed by Rahul Gandhi across
the length and breadth of the state-more than 200 rallies as per an
estimate-somewhere in their hearts, the voters of Uttar Pradesh were
not convinced that they should vote for 'the family.'

On the other hand, SP's Akhilesh Yadav was on a slow, but steady rise.
As he went about constituencies, interacting with local
youth-increasingly frustrated with unemployment and lack of
opportunities-he sensed the peoples' aspirations, the local needs, the
villagers' pain.

He was 'one of them,' an insider, a local boy, who was now ready to
take the plunge into state politics. He was never an outsider, like
Rahul Gandhi; he stuck a chord with locals, and the latter were not
awe of him, as they were in the case of Rahul Gandhi.

This enabled him to get a closer and deeper access to the locals'
hearts, and was able to reach out to them.

As Fatima,an elderly woman in a village in Mathura district said,
"Rahul Gandhi toh ajooba hai. Aata hai, hamare ghar mein rehta hai,
khata hai, aur chala jaata hai. Par isse hamein kya munafa? Arey, usko
chahiye ki hamein dilli bulaye, khana khilaye, madad kare." (Rahul
Gandhi is a strange man. He comes to our village, he stays in our
home, he eats with us, and goes away. But, how does it benefit us?
Instead, he should take steps to make sure we can come to his house in
Delhi, eat with him, and he can help us.)

Akhilesh Yadav mobilised the youth to an extent that 'bhaiya'-a word
meaning 'elder brother' and a term of affection in the Hindi speaking
belt-was suffixed to his name.

He became Akhilesh Bhaiya, while Rahul Gandhi remained 'Rahul Gandhi,'
a significant development that triggered the Congress rout.

Akhilesh Yadav also announced a clear list of plans and promises that
the SP would do if it was brought to power -such as waiving off credit
up to Rs 50000 taken by farmers, providing employment to the youth,
and to the unemployed, an allowance of Rs.1000, among others.

People found a credible and strong alternative to the Congress in the
state in SP.

Though the SP has won an absolute and historic majority, Akhilesh
Yadav has a tough job on his hands-to live up to the peoples'
overwhelming expectations.

Uttar Pradesh has been in a state of utter disarray for several
decades due to steady bouts of misgovernance by all major
parties-including the SP.

Civil and democratic institutions are languishing due to endemic
corruption; healthcare facilities, schools and other infrastructure
are in shambles; roads are in total disrepair.

A popular joke doing the rounds in Uttar Pradesh is there are no
potholes on roads, but roads are made on potholes.

Crime is rampant; labour migration is common due to the lack of
opportunities for skilled workers; industry and factories are on the
brink of breakdown; there is a dearth of cleanliness and sanitation
facilities are a glaring crisis in the works; poverty; unemployment;
pollution; traffic woes, among others, are the looming problems across
the state.

However, the SP has generated excitement and unexpected support for
itself this time. As one of the many local slogans that have come up
in SP's support goes-"Toot gaya haath aur haathi ki hui maat, Murjha
gaya kamal par cycle chali farrat!"-which can be loosely translated
as: the Hand (Congress symbol) has been broken, and the Elephant (BSP
symbol) has faced a rout; the Lotus (BJP symbol) too has been crushed,
now only the Cycle (SP symbol) is running with speed.

To ensure his name is etched in the state's politics, Akhilesh Yadav
needs to pull up his socks and get the work done.

He needs to reinvigorate a sense of the Lohia-ite passion, intensity
and integrity his party's ideals were so renowned for.

He needs to maintain his base and connect with the masses at the
grassroots, and emerge as a leader who works for rural and urban
development.

Above all, Akhilesh Yadav needs to remember what must be a golden rule
for politicians today-with power comes responsibility.

Meanwhile, for Rahul Gandhi, this defeat will certainly not mark the
end of his political career, as has been propagated by several
analysts.

In India, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is still the 'first family' of
politics, and cannot be written off with merely a defeat.

Rahul Gandhi needs to ensure that he moves away from the image of
being a weaker reflection of his dynamic father (Rajiv Gandhi),
grandmother (Indira Gandhi) and great grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru)
to creating a separate niche for himself in the country's politics. By
Samarth Pathak (ANI)

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati blames Congress, BJP for polarisation of Muslim vote

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=402409&catid=35

Mayawati blames Congress, BJP for polarisation of Muslim vote

7 March 2012

Press Trust of India

LUCKNOW, 7 MARCH: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Miss Mayawati today
blamed Congress and BJP for polarisation of Muslim votes in favour of
the Samajwadi Party on the minority sub-quota issue and rejected
suggestions that corruption charges led to her defeat.

Addressing a Press conference after tendering her resignation to UP
Governor BL Joshi, she said 70 per cent of the Muslim votes had gone
to the SP due to the minority reservation issue. "You all know that
Congress raised the issue of reservation for backward Muslims for
their political gains soon after the Vidhan Sabha elections were
declared and this was opposed strongly to by the BJP," Ms Mayawati
said.

"The Congress announcing reservation to backward Muslims led to BJP
wooing backwards and upper castes forcefully which caused fear among
the Muslims that it (BJP) could return to power in UP and almost 70
per cent of them voted in favour of the Samajwadi Party," the BSP
supremo said. Except the Dalits, the Hindu votes ~ particularly those
of upper castes ~ got divided among many parties and the SP gained
from this, she said.

To a question on whether corruption charges against her government
including the NRHM scam were responsible for the defeat, she said she
did not think so. Replying to another query, she said that her party
has not been rejected by the people. "Had that been the case, we would
also faced a fate similar to Lalu Yadav in Bihar.... We have got 80
seats", she said.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati quits on a bitter note

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/mayawati-quits-on-a-bitter-note/921346/

Mayawati quits on a bitter note
fe Bureau
Posted online: 2012-03-08 21:20:00+05:30

LucknowUttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati exited from her office on
a bitter note, alleging that the new Samajwadi Party will put her
welfare programmes in cold storage and take Uttar Pradesh backwards.

"When I took over the state it was in a very bad shape and I have
single-handedly developed UP on my own. But I fear that the SP, which
did no development work during its previous regime, will put halt all
the development work that I have done and put the state back by many
years," she said whikle addressing mediapersons soon after tendering
her resignation to Governor B L Joshi after facing a rout in the
assembly elections.

Holding the opposition parties as well as the media responsible for
her rout, Mayawati said the media built wrong perceptions about her
government and very soon, the people of the state will get fed up with
the functioning of the 'goonda' SP government and remember the good
governance during the BSP rule."

Trying to put the blame of the rout on a number of factors, Mayawati
accusing the Congress and the BJP of raising the minority sub-quota
bogey mid-way during the UP polls for their political gains, which
eventually helped in transferring the Muslim votes to Samajwadi Party
on a large scale.

Mayawati said 70 per cent of the Muslim votes had gone to the SP due
to the minority reservation issue and alleged that the BJP also tried
to attract the upper castes and the OBCs towards them for electoral
benefits.

"Due to this, there was a fear in the Muslim community that the BJP
may come to power. Finding the Congress weak and thinking that the
OBCs and upper castes would vote for the

BJP, Muslims voted not for the Congress but the SP," she claimed.

Mayawati claimed that her core votebank, the dalits, did not get
divided and had remained with the BSP.

"All across the state, the Dalits have voted for the BSP. This is the
reason the BSP is number two. Otherwise, it would have been left far
behind.... My position would have been like that of Lalu Prasad in
Bihar," she said.

She also held the Centre responsible for working against the
development of the state.

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[ZESTCaste] Uttar Pradesh cabinet secretary takes premature retirement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F7Xmg_3jP4

Uttar Pradesh cabinet secretary takes premature retirement -Newsx

Uploaded by newsxlive on Mar 6, 2012

As Samajwadi Party is all set to take over from Mayawati, bureaucrats
close to her are also on their way out. Uttar Pradesh cabinet
secretary Shashank Shekar Singh has taken premature retirement from
service with effect from March 9. Shashank, who had retired in May
2010 was given two years extension by Mayawati which is due to expire
on March 31. It may be noted that his tenure as cabinet secretary was
marred by controversies. In fact his appointment as cabinet secretary
has been challenged in court several times.

For more info log onto: http://alpha.newsx.com

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[ZESTCaste] Punjab’s dalits deserted Cong

http://www.asianage.com/india/punjab-s-dalits-deserted-cong-299

Punjab's dalits deserted Cong
Mar 08, 2012 - Tanveer Thakur |

Age Correspondent

The election results in Punjab have come as a shock to the Congress,
which is still finding it hard to believe that it has actually
snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. As the dust begins to settle
after the results, a picture is finally starting to emerge.

The one reason which is paramount for the Congress' poor performance
in Punjab is that its traditional dalit votes, which form 30 per cent
of the total electorate of the state, have deserted the party.
However, a look at the voting pattern of dalits in the last two
decades would tell that they have shifted away from the Congress. With
the Akali Dal allying with the BJP, the upper caste Hindu votes have
gone with the alliance and made it a formidable force in the state.
Ever since the BSP made an entry into Punjab politics, it has got a
slice of dalit votes. In 1992, the party won nine seats with a vote
share of 16.32 per cent, but by 1997 the figure was down to 7.48 per
cent and it won just one seat. The share shrunk further to 5.69 per
cent in 2002 and to 4.1 per cent in 2007. The party did not get a
single seat during these two elections. The share of the BSP increased
to 4.3 per cent in the current elections.
However, the Congress in the state has remained indifferent to the
slow exodus of dalit votes from its fold.

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[ZESTCaste] For a prince; by a prince

http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?programId=1073754900&contentId=11188715

THE BIG VOTE
For a prince; by a prince
By R. Prasannan
Story Dated: Friday, March 9, 2012 9:47 hrs IST
The Congress elders were there to make a success of Rahul's campaign.
Akhilesh helped elders win for the SP.

Akhilesh Yadav. Photo by Pawan Kumar

It is still the bicycle. Not the kind of bicycle that men of Mulayam
Singh Yadav's generation rode to farms and factories, with monstrously
stout bars and iron rods for brake levers. It is the new-generation
bicycle, painted red, blue and other bright hues, sporting elegantly
cabled brakes, gears and even tri-speed. The kind of bicycle that
Akhilesh Yadav's generation rode to school a few years ago and into
the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh recently.
A new generation of cyclists have come of age—voting age. They and
their children need computers, a demand which Mulayam had once scoffed
at. Not just computers, but laptops with Urdu keyboards that would
empower Moradabad's children to compete with Hyderabad's whiz kids, is
what Akhilesh has promised.
It is the same Samajwadi Party of Yadavs, Muslims and middle-peasant
Lohias, but with a refreshingly refurbished ideology. An ideology of
aspiration.
It was not different with the Akalis of Punjab—a party of injured and
insulted jathedars, who once talked of nothing other than Sikh
homeland, Blue Star revenge and stolen river waters. Keeping that
constituency as the base, young Sukhbir Singh Badal sold the dream of
a wi-fi-ed Punjab with laptops, highways and international airports.
The ideology of aspiration worked, finished an indifferent Congress,
and even its sleeping partner, the BJP. It was as if the BJP slept and
the Akalis dreamed.
The message is clear. Neither the call of caste, nor the charm of
charisma, not even the promises of patronage can entice voters any
longer. The old formula of caste and community still remains at the
base of any party's social structure, keeping its core voters. To win,
and win like the way Akhilesh did, you need more. You need the votes
of those who aspire and dream of a new India.
Despite his youth and charisma, Rahul Gandhi could not sell that
dream. Indeed, he set the agenda for the elections, focusing on
corruption, misrule and lack of development under Mayawati. "He sold
anger," said a senior Congress leader. "Anger against the misrule of
Mayawati. So did Mulayam. But that wasn't enough."
Said Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi: "Rahul contributed to creating
an atmosphere against the misrule of Mayawati. However, Mulayam Singh
has taken the advantage. The anti-vote always goes to the party which
people think will win, and in UP, that party was the SP."
Though both were dubbed crown princes, the campaign styles of Rahul
and Akhilesh were studies in contrast. Even while Rahul addressed 211
rallies in 207 constituencies, he had a battery of veteran generals to
insulate him from the barbs of enemies, and even from the ignominy of
a prospective defeat. There was hardly any strategy to energise the
party worker, except to make Rahul present everywhere.
By the time the second round of polling was over, Congress leaders had
given out enough hints that there would be others to take the blame if
Rahul failed. As the closing rounds approached, general secretary
Digvijaya Singh and state party president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said so
in no uncertain terms. The problem was that voter had sensed it from
the beginning.
It worked ditto after the elections. "Not even Rahul Gandhi's worst
enemies, political or otherwise, suggest that his leadership was
lacking," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. "He has
provided the spirit, the euphoria, the leadership. If it doesn't
translate, it doesn't translate." Added another leader: "It is not
necessary that all films of a big star should succeed. Some of their
films do flop." Digvijaya kept his word. After a meeting with the
Congress president, he declared, "I am a loyal sepoy of the Congress.
I take full responsibility for whatever has happened."
It was hinted at even by Sonia Gandhi when she met the media the day
after the defeat. "I would say rather than lack of leadership, too
many leaders, that is our problem," she said. She also blamed bad
selection of candidates and price rise.
Akhilesh, too, had his share of veterans to advise him, but no such
protective ring or insurers to save him from defeat. Papa Mulayam
scrupulously kept miles away from the son. This worked to the party's
advantage in two ways. One, no untoward shadow from the party's rowdy
past fell on the young man. Two, by campaigning on his own, Mulayam
reassured the old Samajwadi loyalists—the old generation Yadavs and
Muslims—that it was still the same party they had been voting for two
decades and more.
Simply put, while in the case of the Congress it appeared as if the
party's elder statesmen were there to make a success of Rahul's
campaign, in the SP it was the other way round. It was seen as if
Akhilesh was there to help out the elders to grab a win for the party.
For once, the mood in the Congress and the BJP camp is the same: of
shock and despondence. BJP president Nitin Gadkari's solace is that
"majority of the voters have voted against the UPA. The BJP has
snatched Goa from the Congress and retained Punjab with the Akalis. We
are confident of forming government in Uttarakhand. Manipur does not
matter in the national context. It is only in UP that we have got less
than our expectations."

Gadkari had personally been in charge of the UP strategy and his men
had been expecting an incredible tally of 85 to 100 seats. The party's
consolation now is that it didn't communalise the election, not even
in Ram homeland. Even after the Congress talk of Muslim quota, the BJP
did little to muster Hindu anger. Narendra Modi was kept out, or he
opted out, of the campaign in UP. "In Goa, we fielded six Christians
and supported a seventh. All have won," Gadkari preened.
The BJP's biggest humiliation has been in Punjab where it lost seats
while its Akali allies not only improved their tally, but also made
history by surviving an election as an incumbent for the first time.
In fact, the BJP had been expecting a defeat for the alliance, and as
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad admitted, "We were sad that we may be
responsible for the defeat of our alliance, and even shared this view
with Badal sahib." As it turned out, the voters in Punjab punished the
BJP and promoted its very own ally.
The belief that caste or clever cross-caste formulations, like the
ones tried out by Mayawati, on their own can make a party ride to
victory has been shattered with this round of elections. "Mayawati
could have succeeded by setting personal examples of sacrifice and
simple living," pointed out CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, an old
friend of Mayawati's mentor Kanshi Ram. "But the Dalits, as well as
the upper caste supporters of Mayawati, saw that despite speaking of
sarvajana hitaya, Mayawati was splurging on self-love. This
contradiction of ideology and personal qualities brought Mayawati
down."
More than the failure of the Rahul magic, the shocker for the Congress
is that even Priyanka Vadra drew a blank (save one seat) in the
Nehru-Gandhi pocket boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary
constituencies, to which she had devoted her entire campaign time. In
fact, the party had made fantastic calculations based on its tally of
22 seats in the Lok Sabha election. Since each Lok Sabha seat is equal
to at least four Assembly wins, the party had dreamt of around 80
seats this time. Thereabouts lies the party's big worry: how will the
party ensure a win in 2014?
And between now and 2014 there will be plethora of problems. The SP,
which was quiet on the Central front till now, will flex its newly
gained muscles, in concert with the independent-minded Trinamool
Congress, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and AIADMK. Worse,
already burdened with the fiascos over both the executive order on
permitting FDI in multi-brand retail and the Lokpal bill within
Parliament, the Congress now has to prepare for concerted flak over
attempts to dilute the federal structure of the Constitution, with its
plans for National Counter Terrorism Centre, Railway Protection Force
restructuring and river-linking.

MPs from ruling parties in the eastern coalition of states led by
Navin Patnaik and Nitish Kumar have already announced their decision
to work together for "the economic and political welfare" of their
states. The Samajwadis, now expected to elect Akhilesh as their
parliamentary leader, have already indicated their opposition to FDI
in multi-brand retail.
With such imponderables ahead, the UPA government can now expect to be
reduced to a government on daily wages. No big-ticket reform issue can
be taken for granted. And the party would have to negotiate hard to
get its candidate for the May presidential election approved by the
allies. "Our support in Parliament will be completely issue-based,"
said SP leader Shahid Siddiqui. "We do not want a confrontation with
the Centre for the sake of it, but the Congress should realise that we
have been friendly and backed it on key policies such as the nuclear
bill earlier. In return, we expect that any package that will benefit
UP politically and economically is pushed through without glitches."
Already, SP leaders have charted out new lines of argument with the
Congress. "From the election results, it is clear that the Centre's
economic policies are not good for the people," said an SP leader,
implying that the party is not beyond joining a coalition of non-BJP,
non-Congress parties to set the agenda in the run-up to 2014.
The only comfort for the Congress, at least till the next election, is
the indifference of the BSP. Apparently, Mayawati is not holding Rahul
responsible for her defeat, her rival has always been Mulayam. Said
BSP MP Dr Baliram: "Attacks on Dalits are expected to increase in the
coming days. We are shocked by the extent of violence that took place
in Jhansi on the day of counting, which showed that the SP is yet to
get rid of its criminal elements."
Added fellow MP Dara Singh Chauhan: "A final decision on [attitude to]
the UPA will be taken by Behenji after a brainstorming session, which
is expected in the coming months. We have a sizable presence in
Parliament and that is a major deterrent for anyone harbouring ill
intentions about the BSP. We are not going to join hands with anyone
in a hurry. But if anyone extends a hand of friendship, we will
consider it."
There are many in the Congress who believe that the Samajwadis, too,
are not likely to be as aggressive, now that the Congress has proved
to be unable to eat into Samajwadi support base. Now that there is no
threat to the SP from the Congress, these leaders hope, the "positive
personal chemistry" between Rahul and Akhilesh should prevail, at
least for the UPA to ensure that its bills get passed in Parliament.
with Prabha Jagannathan, Soni Mishra, Vijaya Pushkarna and Kallol Bhattacherjee

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[ZESTCaste] Did the dalits participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

http://www.preservearticles.com/2012030224540/did-the-dalits-participate-in-the-civil-disobedience-movement.html

Did the dalits participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement?

S Chirag
History

(i) Initially, Congress had ignored the dalits for fear of offending
the Sanatanis, the conservative high-caste Hindus.

(ii) But Mahatma Gandhi believed that Swaraj would not come for a
hundred years if untouchability was not eliminated.

(iii) He called them 'Harijans' and he himself cleaned toilets to
dignify the work of sweepers.

(iv) But many dalit leaders demanded reserved seats in educational
institutions and a separate electorate.

(v) So dalit participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement was limited.

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[ZESTCaste] Bhatta-Parsaul debacle: Rahul entered late, left early

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/bhatta-parsaul-debacle-rahul-entered-late-left-early-238391.html

Bhatta-Parsaul debacle: Rahul entered late, left early

by Pallavi Polanki Mar 8, 2012

Bhatta-Parsaul was Rahul's for the taking, but what went wrong?

Bhatta-Parsaul – the twin villages in Western Uttar Pradesh that were
at the centre of last year's farmer agitation—was pegged as the
battleground between the young prince and the reigning queen.

The contest should have been a dream win for the young Gandhi who had
charmed the farmers by joining cause with them by famously sneaking
into Bhatta on a bike in the early hours of the morning, giving the
police cordon the slip.

In a shock defeat for the Congress, its candidate from Jewar—where the
two villages are located—Dhirendra Singh fell short of the BSP's
Vedram Bhati by 9,500 votes. Vedram got 67,524, Singh 58,024 followed
by Samajwadi Party's Bijendra Singh Bhati at 35,166.

Residents of Bhatta village say that while they support the Congress
they are disappointed with the party. Pawan Kumar (left), Naveen
Chaudhury (third from left), Rahul Kaushik (fourth from left) and
Shouhin Khan (right) - with steel rods on his leg after it was hit by
a bullet during the police firing on agitating farmers in May. Naresh
Sharma/Firstpost

Why was Rahul not able to translate massive crowds he pulled into
votes? After such a sensational launch into UP's political
landscape—Mayawati almost handed him the opportunity on a platter—why
did the campaign lose its hold over the people?

A day after votes were counted, the residents of the twin villages
remain stunned by the return of the BSP. Says Om Veer Singh, Bhatta's
village head, with a wry smile, "Vedram is also probably wondering
where he got all these votes. He never once showed his face here
during the campaign. If you had asked him before the results were
declared, how many votes he would have got, he would have said not
more than 50,000."

The fight for Jewar, say residents of Bhatta, had always been between
the Congress' Dhirendra (a thakur) and the Samajwadi Party's (SP)
Bijendra Bhati (a Gujjar).

"In a matter of three-four days, the game changed. When the Gujjars,
who until last week were with the SP candidate, realised that
Dhirendra was looking more and more like the winning candidate, they
decided to go with the BSP candidate (who is also a Gujjar)," says
Devender Mallik, a resident of Bhatta.

The logic behind going with the Vedram Bhati, explains Om Veer Singh,
is that given BSP's assured Jatav (Mayawati's most loyal voters) vote,
Vedram was a safer bet for the Gujjars to get the winning numbers.

"And so 80 percent of the Gujjar vote, fled from SP's Bijendra to go
with BSP's Vedram. Gujjars always vote for their candidates."

The cold calculation of caste, which continues to be the crucial
factor for voters in Uttar Pradesh, seems to have cost the Congress
dearly.

However, Neetu, a farmer who has made a small fortune by selling part
of his land, explains why the support for Mayawati in Jewar goes
beyond just caste.

"Vedram has won on the strength of Mayawati. It is thanks to her that
farmers are living a new lifestyle now. Bullock carts have been
replaced by SUVs. Now houses in villages are being fitted with ACs
(air conditioners). Farmers live in big houses, have big cars."

Many believe, the farmer agitation represented only a minority of the
farmers, while the majority had no quarrel with Mayawati.

And that minority came from Bhatta-Parsaul and adjoining villages. But
even there, Rahul lost votes. Prominent among the 16 other candidates
who contested from Jewar, was Manveer Singh Tevatia, the man who led
the three-month long farmer agitation against Mayawati government's
land acquisition policy

Tellingly, Bhatta gave Manveer Singh who had spearheaded the agitation
got 564, the Congress candidate 454 votes.

There is a strong sense of disappointment among farmers here for Rahul
Gandhi, who they perceive as someone who didn't follow up on his
promises.

"He gave the patient the injection, but he didn't stay long enough to
find out if the patient survived. It was political game for the
Congress," says Rahul Kaushik, who was among those injured during
police firing.

"The farmer agitation was going for more than three months. Why didn't
the Congress support us then? They only came after the police had
fired on us," he adds.

Another reason for the disenchantment with Rahul Gandhi, one Pandey
says, "The cases that were filed against farmers during the agitation
have not been dropped. If the Railway police, which is under the
Centre, had dropped the cases against the farmers for the Rail roko,
perhaps the BSP too would have dropped cases against the farmers. But
there has been no respite for the farmers from Centre nor the state.
Nine farmers are still languishing in jail and many more have received
notices from the court."

However, Pawan Kumar, a shopkeeper whose shop was looted and damaged
during the police firing, says he supports the Congress.

"Congress saved our lives. Farmers had fled the villages and were
hiding in fields after the police fired on us. No other leader came to
help us in that grave hour. But Rahul came. He made sure that farmers
could return to their homes," he says.

A die-hard Congress supporter, Chandraban Mallik, a former village
headman from Parsaul says, "The 58,000 votes that the Congress has got
from Jewar is a record in itself. Never before from this region has
Congress performed this well. And this was the impact of Rahul Gandhi.
But unfortunately, we weren't able to reach our message to more people
in time."

The mood in Congress candidate Dhirendra Singh's sprawling
residence-cum-office in Rabupur, located about 6 km from Parsaul, is
one of shocked disbelief. He was expected to win by a margin of 20,000
votes.

A dejected Dhirendra, forces a smile when he says, "Just the way
crowds gather in a house where someone has just died, people are
coming to see me."

His eyes remain glued to the election result sheets of Jewar.
Describing it as "unexpected", he says, "The BSP is a cadre-based
party, they have men at the booth level. The Congress as Rahul Gandhi
said has organisational weaknesses."

Asked about why Rahul's appeal didn't make a bigger impact, Singh
says, "In UP, caste is big factor. The election in the end goes in
favour of money power and caste equations…given the circumstances,
getting more 58,000 votes is an achievement in itself."

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[ZESTCaste] Will Mulayam corner Mayawati?

http://zeenews.india.com/blog/8/blog730.html

Will Mulayam corner Mayawati?
Thursday, March 08, 2012, 14:10 Views 708 Comments 0
Sushi's Musings

It's finally over. The Uttar Pradesh verdict is out. The cycle has for
once run over the elephant, that too pretty convincingly. Mulayam
Singh's Samajwadi party has removed the 'Maya jaal' from Uttar Pradesh
and is all set to take over the reins of the state. It is a clear
mandate for Samajwadi Party with 224 seats, while the incumbent BSP
had to remain content with only 79. Mulayam and the new prince of UP,
Akhilesh must have already started making their grand plans for the
most important state in Indian politics.

But what does this election mean for Madam Mayawati? What happens to
all the projects that the BSP had started? Mayawati and Mulayam are
eternal foes and history shows that they were always after each other.
In 2007, when Mayawati swept the Assembly polls, she straightaway went
after Mulayam by opening corruption cases against him and his
ministers. And it could be payback time now. Is Mayawati about to get
a dose of her own medicine?

There are already murmurs that the people in Mayawati's bastion would
suffer the full brunt of SP's vengeance. The projects that Mayawati
started, both personal and public, can get stalled if Mulayam has his
way. Places like Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater Noida where Maya has
always focused her attention – these being her home turf – have
earlier also suffered whenever the cycle took power in the state.
Already, the residents of these townships are planning to adopt a
watch and wait policy. Although the face of Akhilesh Singh is that of
a fresh Samajwadi Party leader, people are wary and hoping that the
future doesn't turn bleak like last time when development projects in
these areas were almost stalled.

Just before the elections Mayawati had gone on a party clean-up spree.
She denied tickets to almost 100 sitting MLAs, and even cleaned up
half of her cabinet, firing ministers facing charges of corruption.
She might have thought that this clean-up act will fool the voters.
But voters these days are smarter than that. They just rejected
Mayawati and her jumbo antics.

Mulayam, meanwhile, is most likely to react. He may go firing all guns
after the queen and her men. Not to mention now he has good reasons.
He can just say if Mayawati believed her men were corrupt and threw
them out, then they ought to be investigated for corruption. He might
just order the entire administration to turn their undivided attention
on Bhenji, to trounce her elephantine image. Mulayam may further try
and get his own people in the administration, to carry out his
vendetta against Mayawati, which might also trigger a flurry of
transfers and appointments. Mulayam would definitely like to see
Bhenji in all kinds of trouble and cause her extreme discomfort.

Vendetta politics is nowadays very common. Whoever has been in power
has tried to impede the development works started in the previous
opposition regime's time. It could be termed even cut-throat quite
literally to the point where it has also turned very bloody. The most
classic example of vendetta in politics is the tale of Jayalalithaa
and Karunanidhi. We have seen some horrific pictures of persecution.

The state of West Bengal is also infamous for its vendetta politics.
Trinamool and the Left have gone to the point where streets have
turned red with blood. The state has a history of violent spats
between the two parties. Same is the story in the hinterland of Uttar
Pradesh. So, is the era of vendetta politics set to return in UP?
Bhenji and Netaji have always tried to make each other's life very
uncomfortable.

"I will throw Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh and erring officers into
jail when voted to power for the multi-crore scandals during their
regime," this was Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati's refrain
during electioneering before the 2007 Assembly polls. She won, and a
BSP government was formed in May. After she was sworn in, Mayawati
ordered a series of inquiries against the Yadav family.

However, the situation in Samajwadi party is very different this time
around. The baton has been passed onto the next in line in the Yadav
family, Akhilesh. Will Samajwadi Party appears in a new avatar? In all
his interviews, the new 'yuvaraj' has shown a very different face of
the party. He has promised that there will be no vendetta politics. He
has said categorically that Samajwadi Party has no plans to demolish
the statues of Mayawati nor will they go after her. He has his goals
pretty much set. Akhilesh has been saying that the development of
Uttar Pradesh and to turn it into 'Uttam Pradesh' will be his only
agenda.

But will Akhilesh Yadav stick to his word? This is something only time
will tell. Mulayam and Akhilesh should look for a broader perspective
and towards the future. Short-term political vendetta might balm their
burning hearts, but if they wish to retain power in Uttar Pradesh,
they need to take the route of development.
(The views expressed by the author in the blog are his/her own)

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[ZESTCaste] Is Mayawati still a messiah for the Dalits?

http://video.in.msn.com/watch/video/is-mayawati-still-a-messiah-for-the-dalits/24sel8y9t

Is Mayawati still a messiah for the Dalits?
BSP's debacle in Uttar Pradesh smashes the notion that ts chief
self-obsessive show of extravagance actually gave the Dalits a sense
of empowerment.

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Friday, March 9, 2012

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