Mayawati

Mayawati
23rd, 24th, 30th and 32nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 May 2007
Preceded by	Mulayam Singh Yadav
In office 3 May 2002 – 29 August 2003
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	Mulayam Singh Yadav
In office 21 March 1997 – 21 September 1997
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	Kalyan Singh
In office 3 June 1995 – 18 October 1995
Preceded by	Mulayam Singh Yadav
Succeeded by	President's rule
Personal details
Born	(1956-01-15) 15 January 1956 New Delhi
Political party	Bahujan Samaj Party
Spouse	Unmarried
Occupation	Politician

Mayawati Naina Kumari (Template:Lang-hi) (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She is the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. It is the fourth time she holds this office, after three short tenures between 1995 and 2003. Her supporters refer to her as "Behen Ji", or sister.. At the age of 39, the unmarried Mayawati was the youngest politician to become the chief minister in Uttar Pradesh. She is the first Dalit women chief minister of any Indian state, Kumari Mayawati is an icon for millions of India's Dalits who still provide an important base for her after centuries of oppression by the Hindu upper castes.

Early life

Mayawati was born in Rampur into the scheduled caste Hindu Jatav or Chamar, community to Ram Rati and Prabhu Das. Prabhu Das, her father, worked as a clerk in the telecommunications department. She graduated from Kalindi College in Delhi and holds bachelor's degrees in Law and Education degrees. She worked as a teacher in Delhi (Inderpuri JJ Colony). In 1977, Kanshi Ram became very influential in her life resulting in her joining his core team when he founded the BSP in 1984. Shortly after, she changed her career path and entered politics full time.

Political career

In 1982 Kanshi Ram founded the BSP as a party to represent the Buddhist and Dalits and Mayawati was the key member of this organization. BSP fielded Mayawati for its first election campaign from the Kairana Lok Sabha seat in the Muzaffarnagar district in 1984, and then again for the Lok Sabha seats of Bijnor in 1985 and Haridwar in 1989.

Although BSP did not win, the electoral experience led to considerable groundwork over the next five years, (working with Mahsood Ahmed and other organizers). In 1989 election, party won 9% of the popular vote and 13 seats, 11 seats in 1991 election. Because the Dalits are widely-spread over the state, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati then adopted a policy of attracting other groups, which continues today. Mayawati won for the first time in the Lok Sabha elections of 1989 from Bijnor. In 1995, while a member of the Rajya Sabha, she became a Chief Minister in a short-lived coalition government, and validated her position by winning from two constituencies in 1996. She was again Chief Minister for a short period in 1997, and then for a somewhat longer term in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 2003. Before that in 2001 her mentor, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Kanshi Ram named her as his successor. In 2003, during one of her tenures as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati was accused of corruption by the opposition, Samajwadi Party. The Samajwadi Party legislators presented a video cassette and a CD to the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, which they claimed showed Mayawati asking her MLAs to hand over money from their annual constituency fund towards BSP's party fund. Shortly thereafter, Mayawati got more than 140 cases filed against her bete noire and head of Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for alleged misuse of the Chief Minister's Discretionary Fund when he headed the government in 1995-96. She also got first information reports (FIRs) registered against other leaders of the Samajwadi Party.

2007 U. P. Assembly Elections

File:Mayawati newsstand.jpg

Newspapers in Calcutta announce the surprise majority for Mayawati's party in the 2007 elections in Uttar Pradesh

Contrary to some poll predictions, BSP won a majority, the first such majority since 1991. Mayawati managed to attract support from Brahmins, Thakurs, Muslims and OBCs voted for the first time for a Dalit party, partly because BSP had offered seats to people from these communities. As usual, this was accompanied by a colorful slogan: Haathi nahin, Ganesh hain, Brahma, Vishnu Mahesh Hain: The elephant (BSP Logo) is really the Lord Ganesha, the trinity of gods rolled into one.

Chief Minister, 2009

Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time on 13 May 2007. She announced an agenda that focused on providing social justice to the weaker sections and providing employment instead of distributing money to the unemployed. Her slogan is to make "Uttar Pradesh" ("Northern Province") into "Uttam Pradesh" ("Excellent Province"). Her initial action was to suspend two IAS officers for non-performance alleging that they had failed to maintain the Ambedkar park in Lucknow: B. B. Singh, Vice-President (LDA), and S. K. Aggarwal (PWD Principal Sec.) and another lower rank officer. It is widely believed that these officers were close to the outgoing government of Mulayam Singh Yadav. She has transferred around 100 police officers. According to her, she is continuing the process of clearing out corruption in the UP Police Department, whereas other parties claim that she is nurturing corruption by creating a team of government officials who operate under her personal control. The campaign is a major crackdown on corrupt police officers recruited during the previous Mulayam Singh government. So far 17,868 policemen have lost their jobs for irregularities in the recruitment process and 25 IPS officers were suspended for their involvement in corruption while recruiting the police constables. She has also opened case files related to land deals of the leading actor Amitabh Bachchan in Barabanki, who is close to the previous Samajwadi Party regime. As part of her social reform plans she advocates reservation for the poor among upper castes in addition to reservation for weaker sections of society.

2009 parliamentary elections

Mayawati's BSP did not match expectations in the 2009 general elections. The BSP, which was expected to win more than 35 seats in Lok Sabha from the state of Uttar Pradesh, succeeded in bagging only 20 seats. The BSP obtained the highest percentage (27. 42%) of votes in UP for any one political party. It was in third position in terms of national polling percentage (6. 17%)..

Controversies

Statues

In her tenures as a Chief Minister, Mayawati erected number of statues of Buddhist and Dalit icons like Bhimrao Ambedkar, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj, Gautam Buddha, BSP founder Kanshi Ram and of herself . The statues and the memorial parks in which they are erected are said to have cost the state Rs. 2000 Crore. A month after the Supreme Court of India admitted a Public Interest Litigation questioning this expenditure, the state of Uttar Pradesh declared 47 districts as drought hit due to the poor monsoon rains . She maintains that the statues are symbols of Dalit assertion and the expenditure was required because the past governments did not show respect towards Dalit icons in whose memory nothing was ever built..In September 2008 the Supreme Court of India reproved the Uttar Pradesh government over construction of statues. In February 2010, Mayawati's government approved a plan for special police force to protect statues. She feared that her political opponents might demolish the statues.. Desecration of statues of Dalit icon Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar is common in all parts of India..

Taj Corridor case

The Taj Corridor case is an alleged scam where in 2002-2003, then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati was allegedly charged with corruption. The Taj Corridor project was a project to upgrade tourist facilities near the Taj Mahal implemented during her tenure as Chief Minister. The BJP government at the Centre at that time gave the Environmental Clearance required for such project near Taj Mahal. Mayawati denies any wrongdoing. The Supreme Court of India ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the matter, specifically to probe Mayawati's and the then Union Minster for Environment, Naseemuddin Siddiqui's involvement in the scam. Upon the conclusion of the investigation, the findings were reported to the Governor of Uttar Pradesh who thereafter refused to grant sanction for prosecution of the two under Section 197 Cr. P. C. This refusal was once again brought to the Supreme Court of India where the bench decided that rulings on such a sanction were out of its jurisdiction and it was the executive's (the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, here) discretion.

Garland controversy

BSP leaders presented garlands to Mayawati made up of currency notes on the occasion of Kanshi Ram's birthday mega rally & a day after in Lucknow. The garland said to comprise notes of various denominations was put around her neck despite an opposition outcry. It is claimed by govt minister that the money totaled only Rs 21 lakh against speculation of crores & BSP was not like other opponents who secretly collect funds from capitalists and industrialists to run the party and contest elections .An Income Tax investigation is going on.

Birthday gifts

Mayawati's past birthdays have been major media events where she appeared laden with diamonds. On her recent birthday Mayawati launched various welfare schemes to the tune of over Rs 7,312 crores. Her birthday being observed as Jan Kalyankari Diwas.

Disproportionate assets case

Her critics allege that despite her modest origins, she owns properties worth millions of dollars. In 2007-08 assessment year, Mayawati paid an income tax of Rupees 26 crores, ranking among the top 20 taxpayers in the country. Earlier the CBI had filed a case against her for owning assets disproportionate to her known sources of income. Her party asserts that her income comes as gifts and small contributions from party workers and supportors.

Criticisms

Although Mayawati's party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, has gained a lot of popularity, critics argue that this is not sufficient to make Mayawati a viable candidate for the post of Prime Minister of India. Her excessive expenditure for her own statues, her lack of any view on foreign policy matters and her lack of a proper agenda for the nation are the reasons widely cited for her being a novice when it comes to national politics.

See also

• Bahujan Samaj Party
• Taj corridor case

External links

• http://dalitkingarmstrong.blogspot.com
• Official biodata
• Bahujan Samaj Party
• "Untouchable" seeks power in Indian election