Will Mayawati’s Brahmin card work this time?
Much has been written about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s inventive politics that saw her forging an unlikely alliance between Dalits and Brahmins — from the two ends of the Hindu caste spectrum — to win an election in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.
She did this with a promise to widen the appeal of her party beyond her traditional Dalit voters and bring Brahmins and other upper castes into her programme of all-round development.
As proof, she gave tickets to scores of Brahmins in 2007 and appointed a Brahmin (Satish Misra) as her chief adviser and strategist.
The move paid rich dividends, securing an absolute majority for her party in a state that last saw single-party rule almost two decades ago.
It also bolstered the chances of her party in the general election. She began being spoken of as a potential prime minister.
But two years have since passed, and there is speculation that all may not be well with Mayawati’s social engineering.
A report says the alliance between Dalits and Brahmins could be fraying at the edges.
Stars add glamour to Trinamool’s campaign in Bengal
The controversial seizure of land for industry by the ruling communists in West Bengal may be the biggest chink in their armour for the 2009 polls.
But the opposition Trinamool Congress is not leaving anything to chance in this general election — it’s also taking help from the stars.
Enter Tapas Paul. The archetypal Bengali film hero in the closing decades of the 20th century is already a lawmaker in the state assembly.
This time around, Paul is setting sights on a seat in parliament.
The baby-faced and paunchy actor usually played the saintly do-gooder in tearjerkers that won him many hearts in rural areas.
Now Paul and his long-time heroine Satabdi Roy are adding colour to the election campaign of Trinamool Congress.
Both may be past their prime but they are still crowd pullers in their constituencies — in fact, an overcrowded stage gave way recently when Roy was out campaigning.
Regarding “Last year, the state government was forced to cancel a chemicals complex project in Nandigram, a cluster of villages, after running battles between farmers, police and communist cadres.”, I have to mention that the afore said chemical project was never announced by West Bengal government, at least officially.
Only there was a rumor regarding that. But the battle by “Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee” still continues even though state government stated that no land will be auired fro the project.
Its only a political gimmick by some freaky minded people like our so called DIDI…
Sonia keeps Indira legacy alive in election
With her greying hair, elegant cotton sarees and accented Hindi, Sonia Gandhi resembles her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, somewhat.
It is a resemblance that Sonia uses to her advantage on the campaign trail ahead of the election, frequently referring to the contributions and sacrifices made by the Nehru-Gandhi family, particularly Indira and husband Rajiv, who were both assassinated.
Sonia, dragged into politics after a stunning defeat for the Congress party in 1998, is clearly the party’s star campaigner, speaking at three or four rallies everyday, criss-crossing the country in a chopper which holds as much fascination for people in rural India as a glimpse of the nation’s “bahu” or daughter-in-law, as Sonia is called.
She definitely packs in the crowds: men and women, many dangling babies from their hips, and dressed in their finest, break into loud applause when she rises to speak.
She speaks clearly and simply, with little of the rhetoric, vitriol or poetry that mark speeches of older, more seasoned campaigners. Her voice rises as she criticises the BJP for its communalist practices, and as she invites the crowd to cry “Jai Hind” (Long Live India) at the end of a speech.
Once called the “Sphinx” for her inscrutable ways, Sonia waded into the crowd at the end of a recent speech in Sakoli in Maharashtra state, waving and smiling at the blessings and pleas shouted at her by the enthusiastic crowd.
Son Rahul, 38, who has also hit the campaign trail with fervour, is being hailed as the next prime minister while daughter Priyanka, who was earlier touted as heir, has said she will not say “never” to politics.
UNMAI
Congress had no second opportunity to prove it otherwise in Tamil nadu, though. Further, turning a blind eye to massacre of innocent tamils caught in the crossfire has buried any hopes in foreseeable future. Its sister state Andhra had some opportunity and consistently squandered it beyond all lingering doubts. The crores amassed by incumbent state congress ministers are the principal source of congress partys funding for its current electoral expenses nationwide. The scope of corruption had increased leaps and bounds since the amounts allotted to construction projects are staggeringly high these days (it’s a richer country by any standards now). The business of politics is so good that all businessmen are flocking to this filthy profit making profession even giving up their legitimate businesses (one is compelled to make a product which needs to be sold in a business proper).
Iam not praising Mayavathi, I brought her into picture as a deterrent she posed for congress playing the favorite card of -uplifting the underprivileged- anymore, that’s all. They are already uplifted (as we can see a dalit sitting in CMs chair). Agree with you. She will be a disaster in Delhi.
Dont please panic, we dont need the Nehru kids to lead/ educate indians. India remains a global leader on its chosen democratic and secular path in spite of the dynasty and not because of it. The dynasty is the cause of failure of congress party; the very many good leaders have left congress, fed up with dynasty, and became leaders of their own successful parties. Stop seeing nightmares of a Bengali eating a malayali or a telugu swallowing a Marathi. Since when Indians turned so aggressive against one another, they are characterized as a soft state by outsiders for crying out loud. They irrefutably proved their pro minority beliefs. As the record proves that neither Abdul Kalam nor Manmohan Singh was tarnished during their terms in office, leave alone an assassination attempt.
Holbrooke, an unseasonal visitor?
Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, is visiting India for a second time in seven weeks. But what has surprised many is the timing of the trip, coming as it does at a time when India is preparing for a general election and most government business is virtually on hold.Though India is not part of Holbrooke’s remit, New Delhi’s engagement is imperative for any effort to stabilise the so-called Af-Pak region.But that hardly explains the visit now, considering that he could expect to do little business with a “lame duck government” in New Delhi.So why is he coming now?Many Indian analysts believe that keeping India and Kashmir out of Holbrooke’s brief was a way of Washington massaging New Delhi’s ego.In reality, though, they say India is very much part of Holbrooke’s mandate because Pakistan wants a solution to disputed Kashmir as an element of any regional peace efforts — a demand Washington can hardly ignore if it expects Pakistan’s cooperation.An Indian analyst here says Holbrooke is using the interregnum to show his turf includes India.So if it is impossible to disentangle Kashmir from any effort to win Pakistani cooperation to stabilise Afghanistan, where does that leave India-U.S relations?
@There was no aid as well as heavy US sanctions in the 1990’s , and Pakistan is still here. If US cuts off aid, it will mean no F-16’s for Pakistan, and no leverage for USA.- Posted by Aamir Ali–And you see the shape Pakistan is in. Recent IMF help was the key to your survival. US, IMF, FOP, China so many are helping Pakistan Zardari post-FOP meeting says FOP meeting was success (bec he got billions of $$$$). Rather than putting his head down in shame, he labels this as success. He need to start hiding the grin, be sober and say thank you on such accassions. And you Aamir, looking for leverage, see the list of helpers and China starting to shoo you away. Think on behalf of Pak and ask yourself “we are asking for help for running the country and proudly talk about the leverge, what sort of country are we?”.
Dear Friends as I belongs to UP an I am seeing UP very nearly in past 20-30 years no development of villages as well. And only blame game is going on so at all I am not happy wit this government.and she also a dalitbrahman because she is doing same as brahmans hd done in past .she is only copying and when anybody copy and take revenge the person is not fit to rule.
She has no ideology.
And some f my friends have said that UP is developing so I would like to inform them that India’s growth rate is 7.5 % As compared to UP’s growth rate is 2.67% and it is only in western UP.
Thanks.