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After the advent of Mayawati, the maverick Dalit czarina.

Friends,

"qu'ils mangent de la brioche." (meaning thereby "Let them eat
cake..." ) is what supposedly was said by Marie Antoinette, the last
French Queen who was later on guillotined. Some of the same cake
culture is presently being witnessed in Uttar Pradesh these days,
particularly after the advent of Mayawati, the maverick Dalit czarina.
As we all know, Uttar Pradesh is regarded as the Center of political
activities in India. The most important reason for this is the sheer
size and numbers that this State carries. While the State comes fifth
in area, it is the most populous state in the country with the present
population somewhat near 16.5 crores. As a result the state sends 80
Member of Parliaments to the Lok Sabha as compared to 1 and 2 sent by
some of the smaller states. Even the state having the second highest
number of Lok Sabha MPs, viz., Maharashtra is far behind at 48. This
numerical dominance easily makes Uttar Pradesh a very important
political state.
Well, my purpose in quoting these figures is not in any way to present
a parochial view or regionalist outlook as propounded by so many of
our leaders from every part of our country, be it Kashmir or Gujarat
or Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu or the North East states. They all claim
that the Indian government is treating them shabbily- as second hand
citizen and then use this as a tool to exert pressure on the Center to
get some of their demands fulfilled,
Here, my aim is simply to show that with this natural political
advantage, the politicians of the State should naturally have been
expected to behave differently, a bit more rationally than others. But
the situation in the State's political scenario is just reverse.
While Uttar Pradesh has the two major National Parties, the BJP and
the Congress like most of the other States, it also has the
preponderant and dominating presence of two such parties which have
slowly acquired a national colour and texture but still are hugely
dependent for this existence and influence on Uttar Pradesh. In
addition, there is the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh and Apna Dal of
Sone Lal Patel with their caste based presence as well as the RJD of
Lalu Yadav, LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan and NCP of Sharad Pawar trying
their best to expand their area of influence other than their parent
State of origin.
With so many Regional and National Parties being present in their full
might in the State, it would naturally have been expected that the
State would be witness to fruitful, positive, useful and richly
productive kind of politicking, keeping in view the interests of the
people of the State as the prime yardstick. After all, doesn't each of
these parties claim to be the representatives of the people?
On the other hand, look at what these parties are actually up to? It
seems that the only purpose, the only aim, the only motivation and the
lone propelling factor these parties are governed by is the
self-seeking impulses. To grab power by hook or by crook, to admit
more and more rich, powerful, crooked, criminal, bandied and
aggrandizing persons in their fold who would not only be supporting
them with huge amount of their own money but would also help them in
amassing unthinkable amount of wealth through all sorts of abuses of
powers, privileges and positions is what these political parties seem
to have made their single-minded pursuit.
What hurts the most is that while everyone in the State knows (right
from an agricultural labourer to the top bureaucrats and
industrialists and intellectuals) what these persons are up to, what
their real character is like, what are their nefarious and
self-seeking ways, how much money they have been able to gain in such
a short period of time and yet these completely shameless persons
never feel tired of boasting about their personal and political
integrity and honesty. The only two things these people (I mean
politicians) know are- firstly to praise themselves and secondly to
condemn others.
Ved Vyas, the revered author of Mahabharat and the Bhagwat Gita, once
wrote-
Ashtadash Puraneshu Vyasasya Vachanam Dwayam
Paropakaray punyay Papay Padpidanam
(ie, in all the Purans, our traditional mythical books, the only two
things worthwhile are, firstly that altruism is the real virtue and
hurting others is the greatest sin). Our politicians, in the same vein
have made self-praise and other's denigration as their only two
universally accepted means and methodologies.
The ultimate aim is power and for that they can go for any sort of
compromises, underhand dealings, luring, sale and purchase and would
not hesitate to even commit some criminal acts.
These politicians are always seen yelling at the top of their voice
when it comes to abusing and calling names of their opponents but are
they ever seen to get themselves engaged in any constructive work? And
again, they don't take a minute to change their tracks and to shift
loyalties the moment they feel it will bring them closer to power. If
we look at the last 15 years of UP's political history, we can see how
much these political parties have gone on shifting their alliances and
allegiances. While everyone knows that they have no commitment to any
ideologies sans the ideology of power, we can sometimes see a BJP- BSP
or a BSP-SP or a Congress-BSP or a SP-Congress combine or any other. A
good example of these political opportunism can be Ajit Singh who
himself would have lost track of all his past affiliations. All he
knows is that this is the first time in a very long period when he
could not find himself in the ruling alliance. If we start looking at
the political individuals, the overall sitruation will be simply mind
boggling. I will take only three examples. They are all known as
strong-armed politicians. There is Amarmani tripathi from Maharajganj
(of the Madhumita Shukla fame) who has been in the Congress, the BSP
and the SP at different times and has found himself in almost all the
ministries till the time bad luck struck him in the form of Madhumita.
There is Rizwan Zahir from Balrampur who being a Muslim can't go to
BJP and alternatively swings between SP and BSP with such rapid
frequency that it becomes really difficult to trace his current
location. Incidentally he is in the BSP these days and the announced
BSP candidate from Balrampur Lok Sabha seat. Who does not know Naresh
Agrawal, the man who might be credited with having invented the
switchgear system of politics even after the imposition of the
Anti-defection law? Whatever might happen, Agrawal will ultimately
find himself landed in the ruling party's lap. There are many of these
stalwarts present at each nook and corner of the State. What
commitment, what responsibility, what value system can one expect from
these turncoats? What is even more baffling is the fact that the top
leaders of the important parties don't hesitate for a second before
accepting these fair-weather friends, knowing very well that they
would be leaving them the moment they are out of power. So much so
that to know which party is in power in UP, one can alternately ask
the current Party affiliations of these perennial power brokers.
We all know that every political party is independent, as per our
Constitutional and legal provisions, to make alliances. Again, to gain
power is also regarded as the supreme aim of a political party. But as
citizen of this Nation and as persons residing in Uttar Pradesh, do we
not have the right to ask these political parties to turn some of
their energies, resources and paraphernalia to constructive works- to
things that result in some positive outcome and help the people in
real and concrete terms, other than raising their trying to sway their
minds on the basis of false and self-centered propaganda.
This is what the real need of Uttar Pradesh today is. And what is true
of this State, I am sure must be true of others as well- to a greater
or smaller extent.

Dr Nutan Thakur,
Editor,
Nutan Satta Pravah
Lucknow

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