Maya's PM ambition lacks pan-Indian appeal

India will begin to vote in the 15th General Elections in five phases from April 16, 2009. On May 16, 2009 the verdict will be out and a new government and prime minister will be ready to take office.

As the country readies itself to take a stand and cast the vote, one question doing the rounds is: Will India get a prime minister who had once exhibited vitriolic hatred of the upper castes? It was the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati who had given the slogan: Tilak, taraju aur talwar- inko maaro jootey chaar (throw shoes at all upper castes). Is Mayawati's dream to become prime minister a nightmare for India's elite?

Mayawati has been increasingly enhancing her votes share in every election that her party undertook. The lady who has been chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has decided that her party will face the elections by itself, but has projected Mayawati's participation as a major force of the Third Front formed against the major national parties Congress and BJP.

The coalition mathematics working in her favour, the Dalit ki beti (daughter of a Schedule Caste ) may be only a step away from becoming Desh ki Rani (to rule India).

The question asked on CNN-IBN's show Face The Nation in its election special, called Face The Elections was: Is there a class bias against Mayawati becoming PM?

On the panel of experts to discuss the issue were social activist and author Professor Kancha Ilaiah, economist Gurcharan Das, senior journalist and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sheshadri Chari as well as Dalit thinker and author Chandrabhan Prasad. The debate was moderated by Senior Editor Sagarika Ghose.

Professor Kancha Ilaiah refused to call it as bias. "She (Mayawati) has been saying that the Third Front must declare her candidature for the prime ministership. Now CP1-M, CPI were at one stage willing to do that. Now they are not showing that interest."

The CPI-M is made up of many high class people, so is this not a class bias against Mayawati?

Accepting that it may be a bias against class and caste, coloured by their own approach to politics, Ilaiah said, "Unless they project Mayawati as the prime ministerial candidate, the Third Front cannot be a really recognisable Third Front at all. Unless they do that, the front lacks reach out."

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Distinct lack of vision

The Third Front collaborators will have to swallow their prejudices. There is also the issue of lack of vision. People say that Prime Manmohan Singh exudes confidence and education and is equally at home in huge international conferences like the ones at Davos. People also point out to the intellectual deficit in the BSP. Is this a prejudice or a mere fact?

Economist Gurcharan Das said, "I think the nation will not judge her for her caste. They will judge her for her performance. People are really cheering for her but are disappointed by her performance. They are disappointed by her corruption. That's what deters people about accepting Mayawati. Manmohan Singh on the other hand may have not been a great Prime Minister but at least he was not corrupt. He lacked determination, except during the nuclear deal, but he had other qualities."

"I think intellectual qualities are overrated. What's more important in leadership is determination and to have a vision and to pursue it. And that is what people worry about. She does not have that and she has shown herself to be just as a corrupt politician like so many others," added Gurcharan Das.

Citing the example of Dr BR Ambedkar who had scripted the Constitution of India but lost two elections that he contested, Dalit thinker Chandrabhan said that in some cases there is performance but public appeal is lacking.

Indian elite: Monkeys on a football field?

"Society is changing very fast but the Indian elite are like a monkey in a football field. The elite have a psychological problem over accepting someone who is a Dalit, a woman and is a non-English speaking person," said Chandrabhan.

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Are the Indian elite being squeamish about the caste and lack of polish in Mayawati's case?

"I was delighted and the first person cheering for her when she was elected as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. I had hoped so much for her because the rule before her was so bad," said Gurcharan Das, hinting at the Samajwadi Party governance in Uttar Pradesh.

Chandrabhan objected to Mayawati being called corrupt. "Where is the proof?" he demanded.

"So far the only bias she faces is from her own allies, the Left," said Sheshadri Chari, reminding how the Left has refused to sanctify Maya's nomination as Third Front candidate for PM's post.

Mayawati has said that she wants political power to uplift the Dalits. But a Prime Minister ought to uplift a nation and not just segments of it. Does Maya have the capacity to uplift the nation or is hers still a caste agenda?

Mentioning that playing the Dalit card worked for Mayawati in UP elections but will not help in an all India perspective, Chari said, "You need a pan India outlook and performance. The party does not have an ideology; Mayawati does not have an ideology for the country."

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Is this upper caste Hindu bias speaking? Chari refused it was. "I do not deny I am a Hindu and by circumstances, I was born into an upper caste family, but that does not make me biased. A person like P A Sangma could become a Speaker of this country's Parliament though he was from backward classes but that was purely due to merit," Chari said.

Midway through the show, viewers voting trend depicted a climb in the bias factor theory. 38 per cent voted yes and 62 said no.

Mayawati is no Ambedkar

Fact is that Ambedkar had a huge intellectual capital while the BSP faces paucity of it. In a developing economy, that could be a problem.

"True, BSP has an intellectual deficit. It needs plenty of advisors, scholars and experts," agreed Chandrabhan. But even if she had it all, Mayawati would still face bias felt Chandrabhan.

Chari said, "There have been Prime Ministers in this country, whose intellectual quotient has been at discount." He refused to named anyone but added that there have been people at the helm of affairs in this country whose intelligence was not questioned nor was their caste questioned. "What are you going to do about the economy, about jobs being lost or are you going to be obsessed only with the issue of the Dalits?" questioned Chari of its leadership.

In the BSP's case, there seems to be a total lack of national vision to lead the country.

Ilaiah had more expectations from Mayawati. He compared her with Lalu Prasad Yadav's political journey to Delhi. "When Lalu Prasad was a chief minister, Gurcharan Das could have dubbed him as a corrupt, useless man. But today, what is he as Railways Minister?" Ilaiah added lauding Lalu's work in recent times. "The same thing will hold true of Mayawati too."

Chari refused to say Lalu made it to the ranks of performing ministers. "I am sorry; he (Lalu) is not a successful Railway Minister. He has cheated the country as far as the Railway Ministry's budget is concerned," Chari said.

Not good for Dalit's too?

Gurucharan Das disagreed with everyone on the panel and said, "I would have voted for Mayawati, even if she was able to lift up just the Dalits. So far, she has not shown that she could uplift even the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh."

"You are all talking of vision and ideology while the problems of our country really have to do is day to day delivery of services to the people," he said while adding that the whole nation would cheer if she could achieve that.

Ilaiah urged that people should read the entire manifesto of the Bahujan Samaj Party. "Ever since Kanshi Ram led that party, it had a much better ideological formation than even the Indian National Congress did at the beginning. Now based on that ideological formation, Mayawati is speaking in Hindi while Kanshi Ram spoke in English. When she becomes Prime Minister, she will have her own supporters and her own intellectual class,: said Ilaiah.

Chari refused to buy the argument that Kanshi Ram's vision worked.

"Mayawati became the chief minister of UP only because she deviated from the Kanshi Ram ideology. Kanshi Ram gave the slogan "Brahmin ko maaro jootey chaar" but because she came out of that slogan, she could succeed," said Chari.

Ilaiah claimed that Mayawati has brought development to Dalits and UP which is why she has been repeatedly voted to power by them.

Her statues may have mushroomed all over UP, a trend perhaps repeatable across the nation, should she become the Prime Minister, said a panelist.

The panel remained divided over the issue but the viewers of the show had voted in, depicting a rise in the believers of the class bias theory.

Final SMS/Web Poll: Is there a class bias against Mayawati becoming PM?

Yes: 40 per cent

No : 60 per cent