Mayawati is being feted in the national media she has consistently scorned and which has been wary of her. Indeed, she deserves the tributes and exclamations. She has broken the impasse by winning the first decisive mandate since 1991 in UP. She has done it as a dalit and a woman, in a state that despite its vibrant politics, remains socially and economically stagnant. Perhaps more than any other part of India, UP is still ravaged by shameful inequalities.

Mayawati achieved this breakthrough by gathering additional votes across all non-dalit castes — she secured the support of the brahmins and also of lower and peasant OBCs and Muslims. Like Lalu Prasad Yadav in his first brilliant flash across Bihar’s political firmament, Mayawati has appealed to poor voters across the caste divide.

How can this not shift the paradigm of politics in UP, and of its governance too? Now that Mayawati has redefined her constituency from “bahujan samaj” to “sarvajan samaj”, can UP remain a fragmented place?

There is no room for pessimism in this rare moment. But we would be failing it if we did not acknowledge that like all such moments, it carries within itself possible closures which must be recognised if they are to be guarded against. After all, Lalu Yadav betrayed his own moment of history for 15 long years.

To begin with, what everyone calls Mayawati’s “rainbow” may not fit that description — at least not yet. All the castes that constitute it are not evenly prominent in it. According to political analyst and psephologist Yogendra Yadav, her political combine is better described as “one caste-plus” or “core plus”. This is not a semantic quibble.

... contd.