Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati completes three years in power today. Have controversies affected her popularity? (
Pics) Here's a report:
After 17 years of fractured coalitions in Uttar Pradesh, on the 13 May 2007, Mayawati was sworn in as a Chief Minister for the fourth time. (
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But this time was different. Her much talked about social engineering which saw the coming together of Dalits and Brahmins for the first time in history ensured she had a simple majority in the state.
With this majority, Mayawati could finally build the memorials of Dalit icons, including her own, that she had always wanted.
But that these memorials cost nearly 6,000 crore rupees saw the Opposition up in arms.
"When we come to power, the bulldozer will raze them (memorials) all down," Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav had said.
But hundreds of Dalit labourers working on Mayawati's dream projects supported these manifestations of identity politics.
''Dalits are being given recognition for the first time. Naturally it's a matter of pride. I feel good about it,'' said Moolchand, a Dalit labourer.
Their pride was a happily accepted substitute for real improvement on the ground.
And bouyed by this sentiment, Mayawati put up 80 candidates in the Lok Sabha elections last year. Completely ignoring her formidable Opposition, she was confident that she was well on her way to the Capital.
But the results came as a rude shock as the voters dismissed her in favour of the Congress.
With the cracks evident in her vote base, Mayawati knew it was time to go back to the drawing board to ensure that every Dalit vote came back to her.
And eventually it did when the BSP swept the by-elections. And then 48 hours before her birthday, her party made a clean sweep in the Legislative Council elections as well.
But that appears to have been her last litmus test. Since then, the people of Uttar Pradesh have seen her in various avatars.
At a party rally this year, Mayawati was presented a garland made of 1,000 rupee notes in front of a gathering of five lakh people, most of who can barely afford one square meal.
From a strong anti-Brahmin chant to three fractured coalitions to an unprecedented majority that saw her sweep to power in 2007, Mayawati has come a long, long way.
But the last three years of her term have been rocked by several controversies. With the Assembly elections now only two years away, the big question on everyone's mind is - Will her charisma stand firm in the face of these controversies?