I was delighted when Mayawati managed to attract people from all communities to vote for her BSP and spoke of SARVAJANA HIT (development & prosperity for all). She put paid to the casteist and divisive politics of both the Samajwadi Pparty of Mulayam and the BJP. The Congress of course is a spent force in UP. But the past year has been a real mixed bag. She is danger of losing all the support & goodwill of the people of UP if she dosent deliver results. She may argue that she had to undo a large part of the damage the corrupt Mulayam regime right from the police recruitment scam to the questionable land deals. But instead of big bashes, jumborees and tokenism like building Ambedkar parks and installing Kanshi Ram statues, she needs to focus on core issues like infrastructure development, healthcare, education, law & Order, Power, etc. The caste lobbies will then come roaring back and take UP politics back to square one. She also needs to guard against sycophants who will exploit their closeness to her. She definitly holds out promise but there is a long long way to go. I pray something similar to the Mayawati phenomenon happens in Karnataka which has descended into an absolute morass of caste based politics
RE:She has to deliver results
by arun singh on May 13, 2008 04:44 PM Permalink
Mayawati has a mission to empower the section of society which is numerically very big but completely marginalized in every other sphere of life. Mayawati has to bring a social revolution through the use of power. Construction of roads, building hospitals and schools can wait. If so called progressive governments could not do any thing and India, after 60 years of independence, remains one of the poorest countries in the world, do not burden Mayawati to change it in a year or two.
RE:She has to deliver results
by Jai Babu on May 13, 2008 05:40 PM Permalink
Arun Singh Empowerment does not come by just building monuments or entering temples or by eating food together. Empowerment comes from economic development, access to modern education, markets for labour work or products in urban areas, aceess to healthcare and building awareness of laws & fundamental rights as laid down by the Law. Else as soon as the law & oder machinery falls slack we will see explotation of the poor & backward. This society respects people with money or economic musle. In fact one of Mayawati's biggest blunders has been the refusal to Reliance Fresh. Reliance Fresh for example could have cut through the chain of middlemen/dealers in agricultural produce of the poor farmers and labourers ensuring they get a fair price and return on their investment & labour. Any economically empowered backward community will automatically develop political might and relevance which can end exploitation. All these statues and grand memorials are mere tokenism and only useful to the birds like Crows & Pigeons who perch and shit on each one of them. A small PHC or school is thousand times more valuable than a statue or memorial
RE:She has to deliver results
by arun singh on May 13, 2008 05:54 PM Permalink
before you sing songs of praise of Reliance Fresh, pleas take a look at the history of Walmart. In country like India, where rule of law prevails, Walmart can suck the blood of its suppliers, imagine what will happen once Reliance Fresh gets hold of its poor suppliers. Needless to say, in India, rich and powerful are above the law.
RE:She has to deliver results
by Jai Babu on May 14, 2008 11:48 AM Permalink
Arun Reliance was only an example! Mayawati could have invited a whole lot ogf groups in retail from Birla to Biyano to Walmart! Competition amongs the various retail chains would have kept the interests of the suppliers safeguarded. another way would have been to organize Farmer's cooperatives to deal with the Retail groups. Else large food processing companies & enhanced cold storage facilities could be provided with the government acting as a facilitator and regulator. So much more can be done and Mayawati has the Guts and the strenght to do it as she is nort dependent on allies and has a clear majority. That is the opportunity this iconic chief minister must not miss! That was my motive in pointing this out.
RE:She has to deliver results
by deepak yadav on May 13, 2008 04:50 PM Permalink
u r right..construction of roads, education , health mission, woman empowerments , child care, polio removal, farmer protections,..everything can wait.
India need only TAJ Corridor with hundreds of crore, park with 750 crores...multicrore rupee spending on sttues...what a way to provide social changes...how easy to spend the money got from foolish taxpayers
