India celebrates Dalit victory in Uttar Pradesh

JYOTI MALHOTRA
Gulf News, Dubai, May 2007


India has been celebrating these last few days, with firecrackers and the roll of drums that sound like thunder, and `gulal’ – blood red powder, symbol of joy, victory and change – after Mayawati won power for the Dalits, the lowest Hindu castes, through elections in Uttar Pradesh, a province that is the heartbeat of India.

Without firing a single shot, but through masterly use of the ballot box, Mayawati has shown that power is not the permanent preserve of a few. And that even political dynasties like the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which have been synonymous with the idea of a secular, libertarian India since independence 60 years ago, must bite the dust when confronted with grassroots movements that have a greater hunger for changing the old order.

Mayawati’s victory, especially her ability to sew up a rainbow coalition with the upper castes, has been the subject of much soul-searching across the nation. However, one key fact seems to have been ignored : Despite the Muslim clergy in Uttar Pradesh province issuing `fatwas’ or diktats to the large Muslim population (19 per cent of the 50 million or so who actually voted) to vote in favour of the Opposition -- the Congress and the Samajwadi party of Mulayan Singh Yadav -- the Muslims seem to have largely sided with Mayawati’s Dalits.

This significant shift in Muslim opinion sends a two-fold message. Firstly, that the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh are amongst the poorest of the poor, often on par with the outcast Dalits, and desperately hope that Mayawati’s politics will allow them to participate in development benefits like education, health and most important, jobs.

Secondly, just like everyone else in the province who kept so quiet about their sympathies for Mayawati – thereby allowing her a magnificent surprise victory – the Muslims said one thing to a clergy they dare not disobey publicly, but did precisely the opposite in private.

That is, the Muslim community, just like everyone else in the province, made full use of the secretness of their secret ballot. Expected to vote in favour of Yadav, a politician who never missed an opportunity to publicly flaunt his so-called secular credentials, they denied him, when the time came, their crucial vote bank.

Moreover, Yadav had been supported by the Left parties in this election. In Indian politics, you can accuse the Left of being pretty much anything, but you can’t accuse them of not being fundamentally secular. The Muslim voter in Uttar Pradesh, by helping in Yadav’s electoral demolition, also sent a message to the Left parties to do some soul-searching of their own.

These days in Delhi, as the summer sun bleaches most good intentions, good manners and common sense and blends them into the daily thunderstorm that still takes most Delhiites unawares, the talk is all about how the current Congress-led coalition will fare before it is wiped out in the general elections of 2009.

Sure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh means well, but is anyone really listening? In one of the most important policy directives of any government so far, Singh ordered all banks to give favourable treatment to the economically weak across the religious minority spectrum.

That is, Hindus in Muslim-majority provinces like Jammu & Kashmir, Christians in parts of North-East India, and Muslims in most other parts of the country, will now be eligible for priority loans from both private and public-sector banks, amounting to ten per cent of their total lending.

The PM’s policy directive amounts to a major intervention in favour of the weak and underprivileged, much like what Mayawati says she intends to do in Uttar Pradesh. But much like other policy initiatives by the PM, this one too doesn’t look like it will bring about major changes in public perception.

The difference is clear, and it’s to do with politics. Mayawati’s victory is underpinned by her determination to uplift the Dalits and make them socially equal to the upper Hindu castes. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may be doing the exact same thing in practice, but the fact that there are multiple power centres within the Congress – not only around Sonia Gandhi and himself, but also around the powerful coalition partners – serves to dilute the message that much more.

In the wake of the Mayawati miracle, the Congress party needs to wake up and unleash a few thunderbolts of its own. Foreign affairs may be a good place to jumpstart a moribund party, or one that is in grave danger of falling off to sleep.

Agreements with the US (on nuclear energy and India’s place in the world), Pakistan (Siachen & Sir Creek) and China (border talks) at the moment need a healthy dose of political gumption to move ahead. Finalising even one agreement will unleash such positive energy nationally, that the PM will be emboldened to stay with the course.

For Manmohan Singh, the moment is now. At his meeting with US president George Bush in early July on the margins of the G-8 meeting in Germany, the Prime Minister has the opportunity to wrap up the nuclear deal, and catapult India onto the worldwide stage.

If he doesn’t grab that opportunity with both hands, Manmohan Singh may find, just like Atal Behari Vajpayee of the BJP, that the moment to become a part of history will also slip him by.

Perhaps he should take a lesson out of Mayawati’s book. Power favours the bold and the brave, not those who keep looking over their shoulder, while fearing the future in front.

ENDS