Why is Mayawati erecting statues to herself? The urge to memorialise one’s career typically occurs late in life. But Mayawati is young, just over 50 in a country in which the average age of cabinet members is close to 60, and plans to continue as leader of the BSP until she “grows old and is unable to walk.” Why would someone at the peak of her political career, with many years to go, already be concerned about how she will be remembered?

One explanation for the statue building — and the one put forward most often by Mayawati herself — is that the empowerment of subordinate groups such as the Dalits and backward castes requires symbolic as well as material investments. The figures we build memorials to are the figures we associate our history with. And Mayawati is right in noting that we have not as a nation honoured leaders from subordinate social groups to the same degree as those who happen to be from upper-caste groups. There is something to this explanation. But the trouble with it is the sheer number of statues and memorials the BSP government is building. One large monument, perhaps two or three, seems adequate to the purpose. How many Taj Mahals, after all, do we need. Sixty? That is excessive by any standard.

A second explanation — put forward most often by Mayawati’s detractors — is that this is the result of megalomania, pure and simple. Mayawati’s style is to tower above her supporters, not to be one among them. Kanshi Ram was older than many of his followers, and spoke to them as a teacher speaking down to his students, not as a comrade among his companions. Mayawati, although younger, maintains that hierarchy. The BSP is a highly centralised party, with loyalty to its central figure highly prized. And certainly, the monuments themselves, with their high walls and towering statues, invite awe, not camaraderie.

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