Mayawati comes to Delhi

JYOTI MALHOTRA & POORNIMA JOSHI

New Delhi, May 25, 2007 : From the heat and dust of Uttar Pradesh to the sanitised innards of Delhi’s five-star Oberoi hotel, the story can now be told and retold : Mayawati is the new, undisputed queen of north India.

In the morning, `Behenji’ nearly created a stampede when thousands of BSP workers and ordinary Dalits struggled to get a closer glimpse of her at victory celebrations at the party office.

In the afternoon, as hundreds of journalists competed for her attention at her first press conference in the city, Mayawati handled each question with perfect aplomb. Some she parried, a few others she deflected to her advantage, and those that stank of rank snobbery, she rounded upon with the confidence of one who is sure of her power.

For example, asked if she would visit Nithari, the scene of the monster killings of young children in nearby Noida some months ago, if she was so concerned about the law and order situation in UP, Mayawati replied with controlled anger.

``I was the first person to visit Nithari after that horrible incident. Aapko yeh bhi nahin maloom. (You don’t even know this.) Sote rahte hain aap. (All of you keep sleeping),’’ she said.

Above all, she stated, she would rule Uttar Pradesh with a fair, if stern hand. She would not let the smell of political revenge distract her from her duty. Whether it was the matter of a power project, or the Reliance SEZ, she would not allow anyone to flout rules. Law & order along with development, that would be her double mantra for UP.

By the end of the raucous hour, during which she pointed out that the press should also embark upon ``atma manthan’’ (look inwards), she had the capital’s entire press corps eating out of her hand.

Satish Mishra, a key strategist of her rainbow coalition sat next to her, but did not say a word. Mayawati was at the centre of this sterling performance, and nobody else mattered.

By early evening, at 4.30 pm, Mayawati was chief guest at the house of Delhi’s most powerful person, Sonia Gandhi. Tomorrow, just before she returns home to UP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has bagged her for lunch.

But it was at the BSP office in the morning that Act One of the Mayawati drama began. A fortress-like structure had been erected specially for party workers, who thronged the place with their families and kids in tow. Three elephants stood at the gate from where the crowd spilled out to almost a kilometer on the roads even before Mayawati made her grand entry.
And when she arrived, the police struggled to prevent a stampede as everyone strained to get a glimpse of their leader.

Victory was written all over her demeanour. “Don’t get taken in by our enemies. If we have to capture Delhi, we have to defeat their propaganda. They are trying to mislead the upper castes. As you know, I was never responsible for the `tilak, tarazoo aur talwar/ink maaro joote chaar’’ slogan (Brahmins, Banias and Rajputs must be beaten up with shoes).”

The people, outside the fortress, had climbed trees and walls to get a better view of the proceedings. A bus full of housemaids arrived just as she was about to finish her speech. “Is she leaving yet,” said a harried Ayesha Begum, “I have to give her my application.” Ayesha was promised by the local BSP leader in Shashi Garden, East Delhi where she lives that all the women working in people’s houses as cooks, sweepers and dish washers would be given a monthly stipend by the UP Chief Minister. “My husband is paralysed and I have three children. Do you think she would help,” she asked expectantly.
ENDS