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Just as the nation was celebrating 1857, it was time for as big a triumphant political upheaval as the 1998 Pokhran blasts --Mayawati made history by turning the old Congress constituency--the Brahmin, Muslim, Dalit combine--on its head. Only, instea
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And what was the core issue that bound UP’s voters together? The abysmal law and order situation under chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, something that hit both the urban rich and the rural poor, the Bania and theDalit, the Brahmin and the MBC. For the Muslims, the additional factor was the desire to keep the BJP out-- and the BSP was in the lead in more than half the constituencies.
In the process, the BSP has turned the old Congress constituency -- the Brahmin, Muslim,Dalit combine -- on its head. Only, in Mayawati’s brave new world, instead of the Brahmins being in the driver’s seat, it is theDalit: indeed, she has done what her mentor and creator of the BSP, Kanshiram, had dreamt of -- she has turned the pyramid upside down. And so, for the first time after 1991, when the BJP won an absolute majority in Uttar Pradesh, the state has voted for single party rule and stability, ending 14 years of messy coalition governments.
Her first address was a measured one: she made clear that it was a victory for the BSP’s anti-manuwadi ideology-- a system that had kept her people at the bottom of the pile. But simultaneously, she sent out a clear message-- that she intended to run a fair and equitable administration in which people from all sections of society would be given their share. As for what she would do with Mulayam Singh Yadav (whom she had promised through the elections to throw into jail, along with his bad angel, Amar Singh), she said with contempt: " What can I do to him? He’s already a dead man."
Indeed, it’s remarkable that though she lacks the conventional charisma and verbal skills of the traditional mass leader, she is a great communicator: Through this election, as this correspondent traveled through the state, meeting BSP workers, it was evident that she had got every single message right: CoreDalit workers explained to me that they were content with the BSP leader having given 139 wealthy uppercastes-- of whom 86 were Brahmins -- because it would help the party come to power and improve their lives in thevillages. The Brahmins, on their part, had clearly overcome their allergy for her and had allowed themselves to be wooed through the many Brahmin mahasammelans she had held in the state for the last two years and saw her as their ticket to defeating theirbête noire and helping them return to power. Even the Muslims, who had been annoyed by her remark about some members of the community being hardliners (kattarpanthis), had forgiven her after she had explained that her remark was provoked by Yakub Quereshi who had offered an award for the death of the Danish cartoonist who had caricatured the Prophet Mohammad. As for the MBCs, the fact that one of her closest advisers in Lucknow is the almost invisible Baburam Kushwaha had not gone unnoticed-- as it was pointed out to me repeatedly.
Now, as Mayawati prepares to be sworn in for the fourth time in 11 years -- though for the first time on her own strength-- for the losers, it’s time for introspection. The SP leadership appeared distraught -- three of its ministers, including Mohammad Azam Khan went on an unprecedented file destroying spree, terrified at the thought of their secrets being discovered, and Amar Singh retired to his bed as doctors streamed into his residence in Delhi. And chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav-- even though he conceded defeat -- lashed out at the Election Commission for "defeating" him, a virtual admission that in the past, he had been used to rigging the polls. But in the end, the SP even though it lost about 50 seats did not appear to have lost much by way of its vote percentage.