Another good review has appeared in the current issue of Biblio by Seeema Chisthi. It is not accessible online.
On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:36 AM, Ranjit Ranjit <[email protected]>wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: anoop kumar <[email protected]> > Date: 2009/4/20 > Subject: A review of Behenji: A Political Biography Of Mayawati by Mark > Tully > To: [email protected] > > > *Behenji: A Political Biography Of Mayawati* > by Ajoy Bose , Viking, Price: Rs 499, Pages: 288 > > > By Mark Tully > > Behenji is an apologia for Mayawati, a defence of her, but it is far from > being a whitewash. Ajoy Bose doesn't present her as a paragon of > administrative probity and he devotes a whole chapter to the extraordinary > wealth she has accumulated. The only defence he can make is that other > politicians, too, become inexplicably rich. > > But he believes an apologia is required "because there is a huge disconnect > between the perceptions of what the urban intelligentsia consider good > administrative qualities and that which the vast multitude still struggling > for basic rights and facilities, consider essential". > > Behenji is an attempt to connect the intelligentsia with Mayawati. > > Inevitably it is difficult for the intelligentsia to understand how a woman > born into a Dalit caste, and brought up in a jhuggi-jhopri colony of Delhi, > could be so successful. > > Bose chronicles the struggle which has taken Mayawati from her unpromising > beginning to the chief minister's office in Lucknow four times, and then > assesses her significance. He doesn't rule out the possibility that this > unique politician will become the prime minister of India. That is her > stated ambition. > > According to Bose, the intelligentsia misses the fundamental point about > Mayawati, which is the loyalty she commands among the Dalits of Uttar > Pradesh. > > At first her followers were limited to her own caste, but now the entire > Dalit community is backing her. It is not shocked by Mayawati's wealth but, > according to Bose, is proud that a Dalit leader has more wealth than the > upper castes. "Her riches have become a symbol of Dalit empowerment," he > says. > > It is this loyalty which also enables her to manage her party, BSP, in a > way no other Indian party has ever been successfully run before. > > There have been plenty of autocratic party leaders, and there still are, > but which autocrat promised nothing to grassroots workers? > > According to Bose, association with Behenji is enough for them. There is no > ladder they can climb to become MLAs or MPs. Many of her electoral > candidates don't even come from her party. > > When Brahmin and Bania candidates are selected to bring those castes into > the fold, her Dalit constituency doesn't object. Agitations, so much a part > of traditional Indian politics, are forbidden by Mayawati. > > Bose says that her mentor Kanshi Ram, the founder of BSP, taught her never > to pit the party cadre against the state because agitation "damaged the > purpose of capturing power through elections". > > Mayawati owes her present prominence to the start Kanshi Ram gave her. If > he had not been so impressed by her courage and dedication to the Dalit > cause, she would be, at best, just another Scheduled Caste government > official. > > But Bose says that BSP in Uttar Pradesh is almost entirely Mayawati's > creation. He believes Mayawati and Kanshi Ram complemented each other. > > While he built the party, she provided the charisma, the ability to > mesmerise a crowd. That partnership was far more important than the > speculation about the exact nature of their relationship. > > It is clear from Behenji that Mayawati can't be dismissed as a maverick > version of a typical caste politician. She understands that development is > only one aspect of governance. > > Equally important is what happens in daily life, a Dalit's relationship > with the thanedar, the patwari, the sarpanch, and of course, the upper > castes. These relationships change when Mayawati comes to power. > > She shows that any party that wants to win the votes of the Dalits must > have a leader they can take pride in and so take pride in themselves. The > Congress never learnt that lesson and that is why it lost the Dalit votes in > Uttar Pradesh. > > There was Jagjivan Ram, but Dalits do not think the Congress showed him > proper respect. Bose says a Dalit woman achieving such prominence shouldn't > just boost her community's pride, she should also boost the pride of all > Indians in their democracy. > > His apologia for Mayawati should also make all politicians and bureaucrats > realise how strongly Dalits resent the centuries of humiliating oppression > they have suffered, and how wounded they are by the sense of inferiority > inflicted on them. > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
