-Dr. Rahul Kumar, Ph.D.-
Needless to say, when a person is corrupt he or she loses respect among the members of the society or family members but when a national leader is corrupt he or she loses respect in the world.
Kanshi Ram was a non-corrupt fearless leader of the Dalit masses. However, he was not a good orator yet he always won the hearts of the marginalized sections of the society. Having vast experience in mathematical calculations he tried to inform the people belonging to the marginalized sections of the society by drawing a sketch. His strategy won many seats and the same is being followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) leaders who are close to Mayawati.
The downfall of Mayawati began when he joined hands with the Bhartiya Janata Party which depleted her vote bank base slowly and gradually. On the other hand, Mayawati lost the trust of the Dalit masses when they saw that the same Mayawati who used to call names of the Brahminical party, is toeing their divisive and vile agenda against the Dalits in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Several BSP leaders left Mayawati in the past and leveled corruption charges against her. When a mass of people tell the story and that too repeatedly it becomes a truth.
The odious corrupt nature of Mayawati has done perceptible damage not only to the BSP, her own party, but also to the Dalit Samaj at large. Every day there is a rape, killing of a Dalit woman in the state of Uttar Pradesh but timorous Mayawati enclosed herself in the cozy four walls of the prodigious bungalow. Uttar Pradesh is on the top list of atrocities against the Dalit women. Since Aditya Nath Yogi took the reign of the government in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati did not dare to organize a single statewide protest against the administration, the police under the nose of which Dalit women are raped, Dalit men are lynched. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, land from the hands of the marginalized farmers is being snatched by the powerful Brahmins and made them flee the state. Mayawati has been issuing a written statement to the media persons but hardly organize any protest. This complacent attitude of Mayawati has further disheartened the Dalits.
Mayawati has lost a grand opportunity to organize a nationwide protest to restore the land at the demolished Ravidass Temple in Tuglabad, New Delhi. People across India came to Delhi and protested against the injustice done to their iconic figure but Mayawati remained silent and unprotested.
It shows that complacent Mayawati will not put up any fight for justice for the Dalits in the coming days like Kanshi Ram. In that case, what is to be done by the Dalits. The Dalits should reject Mayawati and look for a leader who can sacrifice or lay down his life for the upliftment and betterment of the Dalits. On the other hand, Mayawati is an old woman aged 63 and tends to lose physical strength & vitality to travel to interiors of the rural villages of Uttar Pradesh or any part of the country to foster a solid front to fight the forces of communalism. Mayawati has accustomed to lavish living. She travels by Helicopter. By doing so she has given the opportunity to the BJP and other parties to brand her a bourgeois woman which further alienated the Dalit masses from her.
Benami property to the tune of 1,300 Crore of Mayawati brother, Anand Kumar was recently attached by the Income Tax Department and an investigation is already on. After this episode, Mayawati turned cynical. It seems as if she has lost her mental repose. A recent example substantiate the allegation when her party six MLAs joined the Congress party in Rajasthan. Her acrid statement that Congress is a corrupt party is diabolical. Mayawati should first scour her own corrupt house. Before 2019 national elections Mayawati stood close to Sonia Gandhi and hold her hand tightly as if she is very close to Gandhi family and Congress Party. Was it a red herring?
Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekar Azad and other 300 poor, hapless Dalits were arrested while protesting against the demolition of Ravidass Temple in Tuglakabad, New Delhi. Several pieces of evidence show that Bhim Army Chief and his supporters were not at all involved in the destruction of the state or private property yet they are penalized for that. Their judicial custody for such a long time is illegal. They are working people. Their life has been shattered. Children are on the road.
This is not a democracy but a dictatorship. Their democratic rights are trampled. They deserve bail rather no legal punishment since they have exercised their constitutional rights to protest. It is urged to the people of the international community to wield pressure on the government of India by writing to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release all of them without further delays.
Mayawati remains unhappy with Bhim Army Chief, therefore, did not launch noticeable efforts to get them released. Political pundits argue that Bhim Army Chief is considered a political threat to the survival of Mayawati hence she is lying low. Her blandishments to the BJP shows that Mayawati is afraid of going to jail. Her jubilating silence shows that Mayawati has no interest left for the welfare & upliftment of the Dalits.
The time has come when Mayawati`s type of politics needs to be buried in the abyss. Dalit politics need a fresh face with the solicitude of upliftment of the Dalits.
Dr. Rahul Kumar, Ph.D. Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. India. He is an independent researcher and senior media columnist. His book on “Elderly Punjabis in Indian Diaspora” traces trajectories of Elderly Punjabi migration to U.K. He is a member of the Editorial Committee of Global Research Forum for Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) New Delhi. India. The views expressed by the author in this article are personal and does not necessarily reflect the official policy of the paper.
