MAYA'S MARCH

Restless and determined, behenji is on the move. Last Sunday, she was in Chennai and today she is in Hyberabad—the idea is to be in a state outside Uttar Pradesh every Sunday. “By the end of 2008, she would have met every BSP activist across the country at least once,” says an aide. And their numbers are evidently on the rise.

After her May 2006 election victory, Mayawati has not taken a day off. On December 31, when most politicians disappeared for some year-end merry making, the Dalit leader was addressing a gathering at Varkala, Kerala, of the Ezhava community in memory of Sree Narayana Guru, the 19th century social reformer of Kerala who had shaken the caste system in the state.

As Chief Minister, she is sending out the right signals to her political constituency—by promising incentives for industrialists who initiate affirmative action and by introducing reservation for Dalits in Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Getting a foothold across the country and expanding the party’s presence is Maya’s priority now. She has addressed huge gatherings in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab in recent months. “The BSP has become a necessary part of all political calculations in these key states,” says Brajesh Pathak, party MP who is also among the party’s Brahmin faces.

There are many factors that are helping her. Other Dalit parties across the country are on the decline—factions of the RPI in Maharashtra, Puthiya Tamizhagam in Tamil Nadu and various factions of the Dalit Panthers could not grow despite the growing awareness in their potential catchment areas. “All these parties have been reduced to appendages of other parties. Like the Congress runs a Scheduled Caste cell, the RPI (Athawle faction) has become a cell of Sharad Pawar’s NCP, while in Tamil Nadu, Puthiya Tamizhagam and Dalit Panthers act as cells for either of the Dravidian parties,” says Ambeth Rajan, a BSP Rajya Sabha member.

... contd.