LUCKNOW: It was only on the first day of this month that Uttar Pradesh got a police chief after a month-long vacancy. Chief Minister Mayawati drew criticism from all around for keeping the key post vacant for so long. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief had her reasons: she wanted a Scheduled Caste (SC) officer to get the job. And so it happened, when Brij Lal took over as Director General of Police (DGP) on October 1.
The DGP episode only highlighted Mayawati’s determination to pursue her Dalit agenda and send out the message that there would be no compromise. In doing this, she has also ridden roughshod over questions raised about her appointees. As of today, the key positions of Principal Secretary (Home) and DGP are taken by SC officers, Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and Brij Lal respectively. But that’s only the tip of Mayawati’s casteberg; SC officers occupy all the important positions in the administration, the result of a well thought-out strategy.
Randhir Singh Pankaj was appointed the Chief Information Commissioner despite his not-so-clean reputation. The Uttar Pradesh Public Services Commission (UPPSC) was headed first by S R Lakha and then by senior IPS officer Milikiyat Singh; both SCs. Lakha, a senior IAS officer, has been charged with recruiting SC candidates even for general category posts as head of the UPPSC.
In the Public Works Department (PWD), T Ram had become the real boss of the department by being in the good books of the chief minister. He was given two extensions after retirement. Kapal Dev has been made chairman of the Local Bodies Board after he accepted VRS from the post of Principal Secretary, Medical Education.
Mayawati’s network percolates down to the districts as well, where the target has been to fill 40 per cent of all posts by SCs. “Till two months back, out of 72 districts, there were 42 SPs from the SC category,” says a senior police officer. Mayawati herself has four SC officers in her secretariat—Netram, Anil K Sant, Chandrabhanu and Vijay Singh—but no Muslim officer as secretary in her office.
Electoral grandstanding and slogans apart, the Dalits remain the core of the BSP’s plans and programmes. Two years ago, Mayawati had ordered consequential promotions and reservations in the state services. Had the High Court not struck down this order, SC officers would have superseded all the upper caste counterparts and become head of all government departments. The state government has now approached the Supreme Court seeking its intervention for implementation of the consequential promotion policy. Also in the last five years, Mayawati has aggressively pursued the creation of parks and monuments in the name of Dalit icons; only Dalit heroes figure in the naming and renaming of buildings and districts.
To improve living conditions and civic amenities in Dalit villages, she launched Ambedkar Village Development Programme at a cost of over `3,000 crore. An equal amount has been spent on the Kanshi Ram Housing Scheme for the urban poor, mainly Dalits. Umpteen letters to the Centre seeking funds for Muslims, Jats and other OBCs apart, Mayawati’s government has no special programme for them. “If Mayawati is concerned about Muslims, why has no scheme been launched for them?” asks Ayub Khan of the Peace Party of India .
The answer could be in these lines:
Naari nahin, sachchi devi ho
Mayawatiji, behna
Bharat ki PM banegi
Yeh hai sarvasamaj ka kehna
(Not just a woman, you are divine, Mayawati, sister, will one become Prime Minister, says the Sarvasamaj). These lines have been penned by the chairman of the State Lalit Kala Akademi, Ajaysheel Gautam, who claims himself to be only an artist, but also a singer and poet. Similarly, Kishore Kumar Pagla has been made the vice-chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi. Pagla may not have made much impact on the academy but he remains popular among BSP cadres for the songs he sings in praise of Mayawati at rallies. Then there is Babu Lal Bhawra, vice-chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, who has also been a regular singer at BSP rallies.
Mayawati has elevated an estimated 100 partymen to the status of minister of state (MoS) by appointing them as chairmen, vice-chairmen and members of state corporations, public sector undertakings and academies. The state pays these officials the healthy sum about `40,000 per month as a salary, plus phone, conveyance and other allowances which amount to nearly `1.5 lakh a month even if most of the corporations where they have been appointed are in poor financial health.
The Remote Sensing Application Centre is a classic example. A sensitive department involved in satellite studies and data collection of the Earth, it is headed by Daya Ram Pal, a former BSP legislator who has nothing to do with space or weather science. . “I cannot say about his contribution to the RSAC, but I can say he is busy most of the time in party affairs,” says one insider.
Most such leaders are either district chiefs of the BSP, divisional coordinators or relatives of powerful leaders. Crisscrossing the state in their red beaconed official cars, they remain mostly busy in attending party programmes rather than their official duties.
Mayawati’s stage seems set. Whether Uttar Pradesh likes the act will be known soon enough.