Latest News Update: Mar 12, 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

[ZESTCaste] BSP not to contest local body polls: Mayawati

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Specials/Coverage/Assembly-Elections-2012/Chunk-HT-UI-AssemblyElections2012-UP-Tadka/BSP-not-to-contest-local-body-polls-Mayawati/SP-Article10-823760.aspx

BSP not to contest local body polls: Mayawati
Press Trust Of India
Lucknow, March 11, 2012

Outgoing chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party
leader Mayawati speaks to the media during a press conference after
submitting her resignation, in Lucknow. AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh
Smarting under poll debacle, BSP on Sunday expressed fears about
return of 'goondaraj' in Uttar Pradesh and said it would not contest
the upcoming local body polls, apprehending that the ruling Samajwadi
Party might target its candidates.

"SP's record has always been bad in this
Click Here!
regard. Under such circumstances not only there is question on free
and fair conduct of forthcoming local bodies elections, but there is
also apprehension of large scale violence and loss of lives of our
men, which I cannot tolerate," BSP supremo Mayawati said addressing a
national workers convention in Lucknow.

Announcing that the BSP had to take some strong decisions under the
prevailing circumstances, she ruled out BSP's participation in any
election in the state which is not held directly under the supervision
of the election commission or the central forces.

"Barring Lok Sabha and assembly elections, polls of local bodies and
panchayat are not held under direct supervision of the EC and CPMF,
but are conducted by state election machinery and police," the former
chief minister said.

"As a result of this the BSP has decided not to contest any election,
including forthcoming local bodies elections, which is not held under
the supervision of the EC and CPMF...if any party leader or
office-bearer participate in it then he will be immediately
suspended," she said.

She said the decision was taken to protect the partymen from loss of
life or property.

The BSP chief alleged that free and fair elections were not possible
under SP government with its administration and police.

She said the recently concluded elections had exposed the bitter truth
that despite a difference of 24.5 lakh votes, SP got absolute majority
in the Assembly as compared to BSP.

"Now the SP people are claiming election results to be a mandate in
their favour. They are considering that after this they have also got
mandate to estbalish jungleraj and goondaraj in the state," she
alleged.

She said after recent incidents of violence apprehensions of return of
goondaraj were being expressed.

"This is a matter of concern. It is a matter of special concern for
the BSP as partymen are being targeted ," she alleged.

Civic body polls are due to be held in Uttar Pradesh this year for
which the dates have not been announced.

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[ZESTCaste] Dalit tries to end life after attack by locals

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/regions/nellore/dalit-tries-end-life-after-attack-locals-124

Dalit tries to end life after attack by locals

March 11, 2012
By DC Correspondent
Nellore

Dalit tries to end life after attack by locals

A tense situation prevailed at Gudali village in Kota mandal after a
dalit youth, Mittapadala Nagaiah, 30, attempted to end his life
allegedly after some locals belonging to upper castes assaulted him
over loading of sand on Saturday.

According to his wife, Lakshmi and relatives, Nagaiah used to go for
sand loading work in Swarna-mukhi river and he used to earn Rs.150 for
loading each tractor if it belongs to the village and Rs.400 if it is
an outside vehicle.

In this backdrop, Nagaiah was roughed up by some local transporters
allegedly after he loaded sand to an outside vehicle ignoring the
local vehicles on Friday. He was beaten up once again when he went to
the house of one Raghunadha Reddy to talk about the issue on Saturday.
Lakshmi alleged that Raghunadha Reddy and his aides tied her husband
to the doors of a temple and thrashed him.

She said that he consumed pesticide after coming home unable to bear
the insult. He was rushed to the government hospital at Kota and
thereafter to the area hospital in Gudur when his condition turned
critical. The incident led the local dalits to stage a dharna before
the police station at Kota demanding action against Raghunadha Reddy.

Meanwhile, Raghunadha Reddy has lodged a complaint with police stating
that Nagaiah damaged his tractor and motorcycle parked outside his
house after abusing him.

Police registered complaints submitted by both the parties and are
investigating. Locals feel that the illicit transportation of sand is
the main reason for this kind of quarrels in the area.

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[ZESTCaste] Would a Dalit make it to the high chair in Uttarakhand?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Would-a-Dalit-make-it-to-the-high-chair-in-Uttarakhand/articleshow/12223706.cms

Would a Dalit make it to the high chair in Uttarakhand?
Mahesh Chandra Donia | Mar 11, 2012, 10.06PM IST

As both the Congress Party and the BJP grappled with morning-after
blues in the wake of a fractured mandate the electorate in Uttarakhand
threw up and tried to cobble up a workable majority by winning over
the four independent and three BSP legislators elect, the political
circles were abuzz with a unique question: would a Dalit make it to
the high chair in Uttarakhand? Chances are, yes, Uttarakhand may have
its first Dalit chief minister if the Congress, now going to form the
government, shows courage and foresight to appoint a Dalit CM, and if
it does so it has a strong candidate, Pradesh Congress President and
former Assembly Speaker Yashpal Arya who has returned to the
legislature for the fifth time.

But what if a Dalit CM becomes a reality?

'It would be the most positive event in the history of Uttarakhand,'
says Shekhar Pathak, a retired professor of history at Kumaon
University, Nainital, who has conducted pioneering research on the
Dalit community of Uttarakhand hills, known as Shilpkar. The Dalits of
Uttarakhand constitute almost one-fourth, 23% to be precise, of the
population, and consist of largely the landless, the artisans, the
craftsmen, and the marginal farmers. Owing to untouchability, still
rampant barring a few urban centres where access to modern education
and employment opportunities has helped uplift the urban Dalits, the
community has borne the brunt of discrimination in every walk of life,
with few opportunities of economic and social mobility. While one can
still hear an upper-caste person telling them on their face, 'Hey,
what will you do by pursuing learning, this is not meant for you,' a
crumbling government educational structure has only added to their
educational and economic backwardness. There is no surprise then if
the school dropout rate is the highest among them and if they lag far
behind in their educational attainment compared wigh the upper castes.
As a natural corollary, they have not benefited from reservation to
the extent the Dalits of other states have.

Their exclusion is not confined to educational and socioeconomic
spheres, however. In the political sphere, too, the story is not so
encouraging. Although they return 15 legislators after every election
to the Uttarakhand Assembly, they have had no representation in the
political executive in any dispensation, Congress or BJP, and this
cannot be a coincidence, this is rather by design by which the
upper-caste political leadership excludes them from policymaking and
plan implementation. Here is a case in point.

The majority of the Uttarakhand Dalits have traditionally been
Congress supporters, and this fact was brought to the fore when
Congress registered a historic victory in the first Assembly election
of 2002. The then Pradesh Congress President Harish Rawat had admitted
before the media that a 'particular community' had helped the party to
secure the state, and this victory acted as a catalyst in the revival
of the party's fortunes across the country.

Still the Congress government led by ND Tiwari had no Dalit leader in
its Cabinet. The recent BJP government, with no Dalit leader in its
Cabinet either, allowed to lapse a corpus of Rs 5,000 crore under
Special Component Plan.

The Dalits have returned only five Congress legislators despite the
party having a Dalit leader as its state president which reflects the
community's increasing disillusionment with Congress, bereft as it is
of any political empowerment. If some highly placed sources in the
state Congress are to be believed it was high time the party
leadership thought of winning over the Dalits, and a beginning can be
made by appointing a Dalit chief minister in Uttarakhand. It will send
a right message to Dalits across the country, particularly those of
Uttar Pradesh wining which Rahul Gandhi has made a cause celebre, a
test case for his prime ministerial ambitions, and if the
disappointing results of Assembly elections are any indication it is
going to be a long haul for his party.

While appointing a Dalit chief minister in Uttarakhand may help the
party win over the Dalits in the long run, it will have far-reaching
consequences for the Dalits of Uttarakhand. On the one hand it will
symbolically hit at the very heart of the upper-caste domination of
the polity and social life of Uttarakhand, steeped as it is in the
Aryan culture of exclusion, and on the other hand it will give Dalits
a sense of political empowerment. Alluding to the example of Uttar
Pradesh, which has been witness to Dalit assertion thanks to a strong
Dalit movement and ascension of BSP to power in the state, with
Mayawati at the helm, avers Prof. Vivek Kumar of JNU, 'It has
definitely made the Dalits across the state conscious of their rights,
and today a poor Dalit boy shows the courage to stand up and speak of
his rights.' Political empowerment has certainly helped create a
ground for this kind of assertion.

'There is visible collateral tangent impact that runs across different
institutions of state - governance, education and production.' He
takes up the example of Ambedkar Gram Yojna run by the erstwhile BSP
government in Uttar Pradesh to elaborate further his point, under
which land has been distributed to Dalits, schools and houses have
been built for them and roads and link roads have been constructed for
their villages. 'A Dalit coming to power makes the administration more
responsive toward the downtrodden,' says Prof. Sudha Pai of JNU, 'it
is more symbolic, however. The reality for the Dalits changes little
on the ground.'

Prof. Pathak puts the issue in a different perspective. 'More than
anything else, it all depends on how sensitive the man at he helm is
to the sufferings of his community and how responsive the government
of the day is to that suffering in its policymaking and programme
implementation,' he says.

Whether appointment of a Dalit as chief minister would politically
empower and educationally and socioeconomically uplift the Dalits of
Uttarakhand or not is a moot point. The Dalits of Uttarakhand are
keenly watching the developments that would unfold as the Congress
leadership zeroes in on its choice in the days to come.

(The writer is an independent commentator and has been associated with
the Chipko movement)

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[ZESTCaste] Seers seek Rs. 1,000 cr. for welfare of Dalits

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article2984318.ece

Bangalore, March 11, 2012
Seers seek Rs. 1,000 cr. for welfare of Dalits
Special Correspondent

Seers belonging to maths of backward classes and Dalits on Saturday
urged Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to allocate Rs. 1,000 crore
in the State budget for 2012-13 for the uplift of their communities.

A delegation of seers held discussions with Mr. Gowda at his official
residence and presented their proposal to the government. Later, the
seers told media persons that the Chief Minister had responded
positively to several demands and is expected to announce schemes for
the welfare of the backward classes and Dalits in the budget to be
tabled in the Legislative Assembly on March 21.

State Bharatiya Janata Party president K.S. Eshwarappa said the former
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had allocated Rs. 700 crore in the
State budget for 2011-12 and Mr. Gowda had promised Rs. 1,000 core in
his maiden budget for the backward classes.
To miss meet

The Chief Minister, who was busy campaigning for the party candidate
in the byelections to Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat, is unlikely to
participate in a convention to be organised by loyalists of Mr.
Yeddyurappa in Hubli on Sunday.

The loyalists have billed the convention as a show of strength of Mr.
Yeddyurappa.

Mr. Gowda told media persons that he would be touring various places
in the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency on Sunday and "if possible" he
would attend the convention.

Mr. Eshwarappa also said that he would try his best to attend the convention.

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[ZESTCaste] Deputy CM Mr Damodar Raja Narasimha holds meeting for Dalits

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/hyderabad/deputy-cm-holds-meeting-dalits-382

Deputy CM holds meeting for Dalits

March 12, 2012
DC
Hyderabad

The 'Chamar Sammelan-2012', an international dalit convention in
honour of Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Maharaj, began on a grand scale
at LB Stadium here on Sunday. Large numbers of Dalits from various
states thronged the stadium to attend the event, conducted by the
Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Damodar Raja Narasimha. The stadium
reverberated with devotional songs. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Raja
Narasimha called upon Dalits to strive unitedly taking inspiration
from Sant Ravidas to secure their rights. He said international
conventions will

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Fight inequality, injustice'

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article2985397.ece

HYDERABAD, March 12, 2012
'Fight inequality, injustice'
Special Correspondent

Dy. Chief Minister calls for unity among Dalits

Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Rajanarsimha has exhorted Dalits and
other oppressed sections to fight against all forms of inequality and
injustice.

Unity among Dalits, setting aside caste and sub-caste differences,
would go a long way in building up self-confidence among these
sections for fighting against the injustices being meted out to them,
he said.
Conference

Mr. Rajanarsimha was addressing an impressive gathering at a
conference organised to commemorate the 635 birth anniversary of Sant
Shiromani Guru Ravidas organised here on Sunday.

Recalling the services of Guru Ravidas for alleviating the problems of
the weaker sections, he said focus should be on education of Dalits as
it would play a key role in creating self-confidence among them to
fight social evils.

In this context, he said the Congress leadership, AICC president Sonia
Gandhi in particular, nominated him to the Deputy Chief Minister's
post as they were convinced that Dalits would abide by their
commitment.
Mass congregations

The Deputy Chief Minister said such mass congregations would help in
building up self-confidence among Dalits and similar meetings were
planned at the district level to take the teachings of Guru Ravidas, a
crusader against social evils. Minister G. Prasad Kumar, former
Minister M. Mareppa, veteran leader Nandi Yellaiah, MLAs Labbi Venkata
Swamy and Arepalli Mohan and others were present at the conference.

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[ZESTCaste] Meet called to decide fate of Maya park, may open in April

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Meet-called-to-decide-fate-of-Maya-park--may-open-in-April/921973/

Meet called to decide fate of Maya park, may open in April
Dipankar Ghose Posted online: Sat Mar 10 2012, 02:21 hrs
Noida : With the fate of the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal, the Rs
685-crore park built by former UP chief minister Mayawati still
uncertain, the Noida Authority is set to hold a meeting about the
future course of action next week. Officials said while no official
intimation from representatives of the new Samajwadi Party government
has been received so far, it seems that the park will be opened to
public next month.

A Noida Authority official said, "There is to be a meeting on the
issue next week. However, we have been in touch with representatives
of the party and the indications are that the park will not be
demolished, as some media reports have been saying. The park will be
open to the public in April. However, while the previous government
intended to ticket entry into the park, there will be no entry fee for
the public. The modalities will be worked out only at the meeting."

Officials added that other measures put in place for the security of
the statues and fountains at the park might also be removed.

"From whatever has been communicated to us so far, the special
security forces deployed by the ex-chief minister will be removed.
These forces were deployed round-the-clock to ensure that nothing
untoward happened to the structures. Other such avenues of extra
expenditure on the park will also be curtailed."

A day after the park was inaugurated on October 14, the park was shut
to the public with the Noida Authority citing that there was still
"work that had to be completed." The official added that these works
have been completed, and the park was now ready to be thrown open to
the public.

"The park was not opened earlier because of the EC order which
directed that all the elephant structures and the Mayawati statue be
covered till the elections are over. Now once the meeting takes place
next week, it should not be long before the park opens," the official
said.

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[ZESTCaste] ‘Buying goods from SSIs run by SC/ST must’

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/233514/buying-goods-ssis-run-scst.html

'Buying goods from SSIs run by SC/ST must'
Gulbarga, Mar 10,2012, DHNS:

To boost economic empowerment, the Central government has made it
mandatory for all its departments to buy products and avail services
from enterprises run by SC/STs, a move stated to be a major departure
from its procurement policy.

Announcing this to mediapersons in the City on Saturday, Union
Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik said every
year the Central government procures goods and avails of services from
enterprises to the tune of Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Of this 20 per cent of
procurement amounting to Rs 35,000 crore is made from small scale
units.

However, now it has been made mandatory to purchase 20 per cent of
goods from small scale industries run by SC/STs, thus enabling them to
earn to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore every year, he said.

"The policy initiative has been taken to ensure economic empowerment
and enhance socio-economic status of dalit entrepreneurs in the
country," Wasnik said.

The minister had arrived in the City to inaugurate the women's hostel
building of Dr Ambedkar Arts and Commerce College and Siddhartha Law
College run by the Karnataka People's Education Society headed by
Union Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has sanctioned Rs 68 lakh
towards the construction of the hostel building.

The Union government has hiked the amount of scholarships awarded to
Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities benefiting as
many as 75 lakh students, the minister said.

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[ZESTCaste] Lingayat counter: SC-ST-OBC maths line up

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/bengaluru/lingayat-counter-sc-st-obc-maths-line-087

Lingayat counter: SC-ST-OBC maths line up

March 11, 2012
DC
Bengaluru/ Belgaum

Is the Bharatiya Janata Party preparing for life after former Chief
Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa? In an important exercise to cosy up to
major communities other than the Lingayat, which the Bharatiya Janata
Party strongman belongs to, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda met a
large group of seers from the maths of Backward Classes and Dalits on
Saturday.

The move is also to "insulate" itself from the tantrums of Mr
Yeddyurappa, like the latest one where he refused to be part of
campaigning for the Udupi-Chikmagalur Parliamentary by-election. The
leaders fear that such an eventuality would prove "too costly" for the
party.

A delegation of 27 pontiffs, under the Confederation of State Dalit
and Backward Class Maths headed by Kaaginele Kanaka Gurupeetha Swamy
Niranjanandapuri, met Mr Sadananda Gowda and demanded an increase in
the grants for these maths in the next budget. Seers from Valmiki
Peetha, Uppar Peetha, Madar Chennaiah Peetha, Chaluvadi Peetha, Bhovi
Peetha and Maratha Peetha too were part of the delegation.

Municipal Administration Minister Balachandra Jarkiholi and State BJP
president K.S. Eshwarappa are at the forefront of the campaign to
gravitate these seers, and their supporters, towards the party. During
the meeting, the two leaders said the Rs 750 crore allocated for the
SC/STs and BCs in the last budget was too meagre and it should be
increased in the next budget.

They said these communities constitute a big portion of the state's
population. A highly-placed source in the ruling party told Deccan
Chronicle, "The party's proximity to the Lingayats over the last
three-and-a-half years was a cause of worry for both the state and
central party leaders. The party was increasingly getting associated
with Lingayats, alienating it from other major communities in the
state." The OBCs and SC/STs together constitute 50 per cent of the
state's electorate, while Lingayats form 16 per cent.

"This move doesn't mean that the party is dumping the Lingyats
completely, but it is a step in the right direction to strike a
balance with every major and microscopic community in the state," the
source explained.

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[ZESTCaste] Mayawati sticks to sarvjan policy, may go to RS

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-11/india/31145039_1_swami-prasad-maurya-vinay-shakya-mayawati

Mayawati sticks to sarvjan policy, may go to RS
TNN Mar 11, 2012, 01.24AM IST

LUCKNOW: Mayawati will continue with her "sarvjan" policy, despite the
assembly election drubbing. She seems to have decided to fight the
Rajya Sabha polls and focus on national politics, at least till the
next LS election. This emerged on Wednesday at a meeting of party
leaders in which the former UP CM distributed responsibilities of
leading the party in the state equally among Muslim, brahmin, dalit
and backward class leaders.

The election for the Upper House of Parliament will take place later this month.

Mayawati's decision not to head the party's legislative council has
indicated that she would move to RS, sources said on Saturday. In
2003, after losing power to the SP in the state, Mayawati had moved to
national politics by getting herself nominated to the RS.

The BSP won 80 seats in the just-concluded assembly elections, hence
the party can send only two members to the Upper House. The name of
Mayawati's close aide and cabinet secretary in her government is also
doing the rounds for the RS nomination.

Mayawati decided to continue with her 'Sarvjan' policy and distributed
party responsibilities equally among Muslim, Brahmin, dalit and
backward class leaders at a BSP meeting here on Saturday.

BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya, who won from Padrauna in
Kushinagar, was elected leader of the party's legislature group.
Maurya will also be the leader of opposition in the assembly as BSP
emerged as the second largest party.

Naseemuddin Siddiqui was made leader of the party's legislative
council. Gurucharan Dinkar, who won from Naraeni of Banda, was made
deputy leader of the BSP Legislature Group. Former energy minister in
the Mayawati government Ramveer Upadhaya will be party's chief whip in
the assembly, while another former minister Vedram Bhati will take the
responsibility of the whip.

No leader close to Satish Cnandra Mishra, the Brahmin face of BSP, was
given any crucial position in the state legislature. In 2007 Mishra
had brought Brahmins close to BSP leading to the party's victory and
all leaders close to him were awarded with plum positions in the
government. This time, Mishra's close aide and lawyer Gopal Narayan
Mishra was made deputy leader in the Legislative Council. Sunil Kumar
Chittod will be chief whip while Vinay Shakya the whip. Former
minister Indrajeet Saroj, who won from Manjhanpur in Kaushambi, was
made treasurer of the state legislative party.

Mayawati told party leaders not to be disappointed with the assembly
election results and continue to work for BSP. She asked her MLAs to
raise their voices at a proper forum and maintain law and order
situation.

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[ZESTCaste] After poll drubbing, Mayawati sets sights on Delhi

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-10/india/31143012_1_swami-prasad-maurya-legislative-council-vinay-shakya

After poll drubbing, Mayawati sets sights on Delhi
Ashish Tripathi, TNN Mar 10, 2012, 09.37PM IST

(Mayawati has called a meeting of party coordinators on March 11 in
which she is expected to discuss the reasons of BSP's poll debacle and
to draw further strategy, particularly for the Lok Sabha elections
scheduled in 2014.)

LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati has decided to continue with her 'sarvjan'
policy (social engineering) despite drubbing in the recent elections.
She also seems to have decided to move to national politics, at least
till next Lok Sabha elections. This came to the fore on Wednesday at a
meeting of party leaders in which Mayawati distributed
responsibilities of leading the party in the state among Muslim,
brahman, dalit and backward class leaders. After defeat in polls, many
described that her social engineering had failed.

BSP state president Swami Prasad Maurya was elected leader of the
party's legislature group. Maurya has won the assembly seat from
Padrauna in Kushinagar district. He will also be the leader of the
opposition in the state assembly as BSP has emerged as the second
largest party. Naseemuddin Siddiqui was made leader of the party in
the legislative council. Though it was clear that Swami would be made
the leader of BSP in the assembly, there were doubts that Naseemuddin
Siddiqui would be given the responsibility in after being indicted by
the Lokayukt for corruption. But his selection shows that he still
enjoys Mayawati's trust.

Gurucharan Dinkar, who won from Naraeni seat of Banda, has been made
deputy leader of BSP legislature group. Former energy minister in
Mayawati government Ramveer Upadhaya will be party's chief whip in the
assembly, while another former minister Vedram Bhati will shoulder the
responsibility of the whip. No leader close to SC Mishra, BSP's
Brahmin face, has got any position in state legislature party. Sources
said that very few MLAs of his group have won elections this time. In
2007, when Mishra had successfully brought brahmans close to BSP
leading to victory in the elections, all leaders close to him got good
positions in the government.

However, this time Mishra's close aide, lawyer Gopal Narayan Mishra,
has been made deputy leader in the legislative council. Sunil Kumar
Chittod has been made chief whip and Vinay Shakya will be the whip.
Former minister Indrajeet Saroj, who won from Manjhanpur constituency
of Kaushambi, has been treasurer of the state legislative party.
Mayawati told party leaders not to be disappointed by assembly
elections results and continue to work for the BSP's cause. She
exhorted MLAs to boldly face 'SP government's politics of vendetta'
and raise their voices at proper fora but under no circumstances take
law in his/her hand.

Mayawati is at present member of the state legislative council. But
Behenji has not taken the responsibility of heading the legislative
council group of the party, indicating that she would go to the Rajya
Sabha, elections for which will be held later this month. The BSP has
won only 80 seats in the assembly elections, hence it can elect only
two members for the Rajya Sabha. The name of Mayawati's close aide and
cabinet secretary in her government is also being taken for the Rajya
Sabha nomination. Earlier, in 2004, Mayawati after losing power to SP
in the state had moved to the national politics by getting herself
nominated for the Rajya Sabha.

Mayawati has called a meeting of party coordinators on Sunday in which
she is expected to discuss the reasons of BSP's poll debacle and to
draw further strategy, particularly for the Lok Sabha elections
scheduled in 2014.

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[ZESTCaste] Identity-plus is the new political mantra (Chandan Mitra)

http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/51213-identity-plus-is-the-new-political-mantra.html

Identity-plus is the new political mantra

Author: Chandan Mitra

As India transits into the post-Mandal era, the UP election results
show caste and community are necessary but not sufficient conditions
to ensure electoral triumph

The Samajwadi Party's decisive victory in Uttar Pradesh signals
India's transition to a post-Mandal era. Outgoing Chief Minister
Mayawati's Press conference in Lucknow after submitting her
resignation was a clear reinforcement of this. Regretting that Muslims
had fallen prey to the SP's charms and Congress's wiliness, she
pointed out that the upper castes and trading classes (Banias) too had
gone substantially with the winning side. She castigated the non-Yadav
OBCs for dividing their vote and largely throwing their lot with the
SP, despite expectations to the contrary.

Unfortunately for her, Ms Mayawati has interpreted the Uttar Pradesh
result purely in terms of caste arithmetic, underlining her inability
to anticipate the changing dynamics of north Indian voter behaviour.

She seems to have reverted to the outdated Bahujan formula propounded
by her mentor Kanshi Ram, who regarded Indian society as an
amalgamation of caste blocs that tended to think and act as
homogeneous groups. He was convinced some day they would unite to
seize state power that rightfully belonged to them — hence the slogan,
"Vote hamara, raj tumhara, nahin chalega, nahin chalega". Kanshi Ram
believed, almost in a Leninist kind of way, that a Dalit-led party had
to function as the vanguard of the 'revolution', and gradually bring
other underprivileged communities under its umbrella.

There was a fatal flaw in this formulation. The other underprivileged
sections, comprising mainly peasant classes such as the Yadavs and the
Kurmis, marginal sections like the Nishads, the Pasis and the Mallahs
as well as the poorer Muslims, have always been in serious social
conflict with the Dalits. The incongruity of trying to bring them
together in a socio-political rainbow coalition came a cropper within
a few months when the SP-BSP alliance of 1993 collapsed amid acrimony.
Being more pragmatic, Ms Mayawati moved away from Kanshi Ram's
theoretical construct and tied up with the BJP.

Three unsuccessful coalitions later, she was sufficiently emboldened
to branch out on her own, riding the wave of disenchantment with
Mulayam Singh Yadav's lawless regime that came to power allegedly with
the BJP's covert backing in 2004. Her 2007 triumph flummoxed political
pundits not only because she won a clear mandate — the first since
Kalyan Singh's 212 seats in 1991 — but also on account of the upper
caste and substantial Muslim vote that came her way. But this too was
an uneasy social alliance; her new supporters voted not out of
conviction but convenience. Brahmins realised that the BJP was a
declining force and the Congress, their other preferred choice,
non-existent. Muslims, on the other hand, were angered by their
political 'maulana' joining hands with 'Babri-breaker' Kalyan Singh.
Besides, Ms Mayawati's mastery over caste equations in each Assembly
segment enabled her to experiment with upper caste and Muslim
candidates, as by then she was confident that the Dalit vote was fully
transferable. This time, however, the same meticulous calculation
boomeranged at the EVMs.

Just as Ms Mayawati realised some years ago that Dalit-only politics
was self-limiting and would never catapult her to power on her own
steam, Mr Yadav too learnt the lesson during his political isolation
between 2007 and 2012. Along with his fervent championship of
Mandalism, he went out of his way to mend the rupture with Muslims,
caused by Amar Singh's adventurism post-2007. But M-Y too has its
limitations. Mandal's other torch-bearer, Lalu Prasad Yadav, was
comprehensively outflanked by his former colleague Nitish Kumar, who
rallied the MBC communities, persuaded Muslims he wasn't their mortal
enemy despite his tie-up with the BJP, while the upper castes were
happy to go along because of the BJP's presence in the alliance. These
experiments have demonstrated that power cannot be achieved, leave
alone retained, by Mandalism alone. Politics has entered a Mandal-plus
phase, which encompasses both identity and aspiration.

Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav may not have consciously crafted a Mandal-plus
appeal, but the promotion of Akhilesh Yadav as the Samajwadi Party's
new mascot helped widen its catchment area. Although he decided to
switch to chaste Hindi after Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at a Lohiaite
party leader speaking in English to the media, Mr Akhilesh Yadav's
strategists were anything but traditional dhoti-clad politicians. In
fact, they weren't politicians at all. The unexpected victory of
foreign-educated, English-speaking technocrat Abhishek Mishra from a
Lucknow seat demonstrates the success of the makeover Mr Akhilesh
Yadav has spawned. It is clear that, thanks to his refreshing style
and understated rhetoric, large sections of the youth cutting across
caste lines voted for the SP. It is this which gave the party its
cutting edge, heaving it well above the 200-seat mark whereas M-Y
alone could not have netted more than 160.

However, those claiming that identity politics is dead have failed to
grasp the reality. If Ms Mayawati triumphed decisively in 2007 and the
Samajwadi Party has bettered that, it is because both have a core
vote-based on identity. It is the same for the Akalis in Punjab, whose
Jat support remains unwavering or the BJP in Rajasthan which retains
the Rajput base constructed painstakingly by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Both the Congress and the BJP failed again in Uttar Pradesh, the
former more humiliatingly, because their erstwhile core vote has got
scattered. Since the 1980s, the Congress has steadily lost its
unbeatable Brahmin-Muslim-Dalit base. Mr Rahul Gandhi's advisers
aggressively sought to grab a big slice of the Muslim vote this time
but even its reservation lollipop and tearful references to Batla
House failed to make a dent. From all accounts, Muslims found the
Congress's frenzied attempts to woo the community lacking credibility,
somewhat pathetic. They had voted for the Congress in large numbers in
2009 because they wanted to keep the BJP away from power in Delhi and
may do so again in 2014. But after forgiving Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav
his 2007-2009 transgressions, they voted almost en masse for him this
time. The BJP's cross-caste appeal peaked in the wake of the Ram
Mandir movement but has ebbed since because even its traditional
supporters don't believe it is a contender for power in Lucknow. And
none but the committed vote for an also-ran, which is why Ms Mayawati
crashed to 80 from 206.

In other words, in order to emerge victorious in any caste-sensitive
State, a party needs to first establish its predominance over a core
caste/community block and then seek to expand its appeal beyond that.
It would be a serious misreading of the Bihar or Uttar Pradesh
verdicts to commence writing obituaries of identity politics. Caste
and religion continue to matter a great deal, but it's no longer caste
alone that can win elections. Identity has to gel with aspiration. And
aspiration is linked to development, not just bijli-sadak-pani but
livelihood opportunities, educational avenues, health facilities and
other human development index goals.

Moral of the story: Mr Rahul Gandhi must go back to the drawing board,
recognising that physical appearance and dynastic charm can't get him
far in the hard-nosed electoral politics of north India. These factors
can be the icing on the cake, but without the cake the icing is
inconsequential. The BJP should do better than this in 2014 on an
anti-corruption, development-driven agenda, but its limitations as far
as Uttar Pradesh is concerned are similar.
Last modified on Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:14

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[ZESTCaste] Can Akhilesh Singh Yadav make UP find economic dynamism like Bihar?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/can-akhilesh-singh-yadav-make-up-find-economic-dynamism-like-bihar/articleshow/12213967.cms

11 Mar, 2012, 09.08PM IST, Avinash Celestine,ET Bureau
Can Akhilesh Singh Yadav make UP find economic dynamism like Bihar?

Soon after the Samajwadi Party swept to its stunning victory in Uttar
Pradesh, ET on Sunday spoke to an industry leader in the state. What
were his thoughts about the new Samajwadi Party government? His
outlook was wary, bordering on cynical. "Someone I spoke to summed it
up like this," he said. "Lootere gaye, goonde aa gaye [The thieves
have gone and the goons have come in]."

The Samajwadi Party may have battled Mayawati for the political space
in Uttar Pradesh, but when it comes to the realm of the economy, the
biggest battle may be internal. Mulayam Raj between 2002 and 2007 was
widely seen as a 'goonda raj' and events on counting day, attacks by
SP workers on journalists, and the death of a child when another SP
worker fired his gun in celebration, bought many of those fears back.
Mayawati did little for industry, but it is widely acknowledged that
law and order was far less of a problem for industry under her. Will
SP 2.0 be different?

Lopsided Economy

UP's growth since atleast 2003-04, has been nothing to sneeze at.
Between 2006 and 2010, state GDP growth was an average of 7%.
Manufacturing growth was around 8.6%, though construction was a major
driver of the state economy, growing at around 10%. But it is the
pattern of this growth, with income generation being concentrated
regionally and sectorally, that are worrying.

Six of a total of 71 districts in UP accounted for a quarter of the
state's growth between 2000 and 2009. In terms of employment growth,
manufacturing employed one of four urban workers in 2009-10, but
that's actually a fall of three percentage points from 2004-05. The
only sectors which have expanded their share of employment in these
years has been construction and public administration.

In rural areas again, it is construction which has been the biggest
driver in employment growth, seeing its share rise from 5.3% to 12.3%
of the rural workforce in five years. It is this lopsidedness which
the SP government has to fix and which is a symptom of the more common
complaints in UP's industry circles, crumbling infrastructure and
frequent power cuts being the biggest.

SP's Bad Politics

Apart from its dubious track record on law and order, the SPs
reputation is helped little by its stance on other aspects of policy
reform. "The SP has been largely conservative in approach to economic
policy reform," points out AK Singh, of the Giri Institute of
Development Studies in Lucknow. The SP for instance had opposed
investment in organised retail, a stance echoed by Mayawati. What will
SPs approach be this time around?

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[ZESTCaste] Now, Mayawati expresses possibility of mid-term elections, asks party workers to be ready

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/now-mayawati-expresses-possibility-of-mid-term-elections-asks-party-workers-to-be-ready/articleshow/12223689.cms

11 Mar, 2012, 10.05PM IST, Ashish Tripathi,TNN
Now, Mayawati expresses possibility of mid-term elections, asks party
workers to be ready

LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday asked party workers to be ready
for the mid-term Lok Sabha elections, possibilities of which have
increased in the wake of changed political scenario of the country
after recent elections in five states, including UP.

Apprehending large scale violence against BSP supporters in the SP
regime, she also announced that the BSP will not contest any elections
in UP, including forthcoming urban local bodies polls, which are
conducted by the state machinery. She said that her party will
participate in only those elections which are conducted by the
Election Commission of India under Central security forces because
past experience show that elections conducted by state machinery under
SP rule have never been free and fair.

BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal have already expressed possibilities of
mid-term poll. Similar possibilities were also expressed by the
Trinmool Congress leader and union railway minister Dinesh Trivedi but
he later took a U-turn and denied that his party wants early Lok Sabha
elections.

Addressing All India Workers Convention, Mayawati said that the BSP
has lost assembly polls in UP but has got impressive vote share and
with little ground work can score big in the parliamentary elections.
She said that the difference between BSP and SP in assembly elections
was of only 24.50 lakh votes but it made SP win 144 more seats than
BSP. She also dissolved all party units at the district and assembly
levels and brotherhood committees formed to bring other castes and
communities close to BSP and blamed party coordinators for not
providing correct feedback of the ground situation which led to
party's defeat.

Mayawati said that she would now personally supervise the overhauling
of party organisation and preparation for the parliamentary elections.

Mayawati also criticised both SP and Congress.

"Under Congress led UPA government, the country has only seen the rise
in corruption and prices," she said.

She also said that the law and order is bound to collapse under SP
rule, the glimpse of which has been seen in the form of spurt in cases
of violence in the state from the day SP won the assembly elections.

"The goonda raj is back and in most of the violent cases witnessed so
far, BSP voters and leaders have been were targeted by the SP goons,"
she alleged. Under such circumstances, she claimed, contesting local
bodies elections would put life and property of the BSP supporters
under threat because SP, which has never performed well in civic
polls, this time would go to any extent to show that its base has
increased.

Interestingly, the BSP has not been contesting local bodies poll in UP
since 2002 because it does not have base in urban areas. Another
reason was that the local bodies elections were held just before the
assembly polls. Hence, a defeat in the local bodies polls would have
put an adverse impact on the assembly elections.

This time also, the local bodies elections were due in November 2011
but the then BSP government created a situation leading to
postponement of elections till April. Though the state election
commission had announced that it was ready to hold elections on time,
the BSP government delayed the process by taking plea that reservation
and delimitation of wards under urban local bodies is not complete
because of absence of adequate population data.

On BSP's defeat in the assembly elections, Mayawati said the Congress
communalised the elections on the issue of Muslim quota and added that
the BJP tried to take advantage of the situation by trying to polarise
votes of religious lines.

Apprehending that polarisation of upper castes and backward classes
among Hindus may bring the BJP to power, she said over 70% Muslims
voted for SP.

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