[Reader-list] Re :Re: Why i am afraid of Mayawati?
Rahul Asthana
rahul_capri at yahoo.com
Sun May 20 20:34:22 IST 2007
Hemangini,
"but i am wondering how the shift will be made from
what has been a politics of exclusion and
discrimination to one of power and governance."
In the political hierarchy of needs,issues of
"roti,kapRa aur makaan" probably come after the issue
of identity.We are a young democracy and groupthink
may evolve beyond issues of identity in due course of
time.
After making that elliptical statement about
democracy,Ill try to make two points about mayawati's
victory in particular-
1.The Executive is predominantly upper caste.So, there
wont be a sense of easy comfort between the
relationship between the two. The ego issues involved
may lead to both keeping each other on their toes
which can only be good.
2.The more important achievement of BSP in this
elections is to change the rules of the market from
monopolistic competition to oligopoly.
We can look forward to that scenario in which a vote
bank is not the baap kii jaagiir of any political
party. Perhaps the very reason that brahmins voted for
her is that BSP is the party that does not represent
the brahmins by default..in fact it is the farthest
from doing so.The brahmins want to be wooed as a vote
bank and they value democratic impact more than the
comfort of the age old social status quo in which they
were the drivers,not the dalits. Such an event can
have wonderful consequences for the politics of our
country.The social impact of this political coup will
also be very interesting; but that is probably beyond
the scope of this discussion.
Democracy,like God,works in mysterious ways I guess.
Rahul
--- Hemangini Gupta <hemanginigupta at rediffmail.com>
wrote:
>
>
> hey shivam
> maybe theres a larger point that can be taken with
> regards to hindol?s piece??
> caste-politics in UP (and elsewhere?) are associated
> so closely with
> identity-politics which are, of course, vital and
> empowering and so on,
> and i don?t think that any of us (or anyone) would
> be in a position to
> take a normative view of a democratic vote (elite
> consociationalism?!!)
> - but what of the questions of what comes after
> identity politics?
> you?ve emphasised (very eloquently, if i may say so)
> the importance
> of identity politics in driving empowerment, but
> this election more
> than being driven by caste seems to have driven by
> ?sarva samaj?;
> perhaps a coalition of the poor, of the needy, more
> than one of caste
> alone? how will the dalit party?s emphasis on
> identity politics
> translate into other (more material, perhaps) gains
> such as education,
> healthcare etc.? i think it was weiner who said that
> with the exception
> of kerala, the efforts of states to provide material
> benefits for
> dalits remains marginal; ?dalit politicians and
> bureaucrats and dalit
> associations and political parties have had little
> impact on public
> policies?. you\'ve argued that the ambedhkar
> villages scheme may have caused positive change, but
> the other examples are identity-self-respect-related
> ones.
> mayawati?s win has likely impacts on the upcoming
> gen elections as
> well, with UP under her and a significant presence
> in neighbouring
> states, she could impact the votes of maybe 150
> seats? so if we are
> looking at her in a national sense, what can we
> expect in terms of
> policy and planning that moves beyond what is seen
> as ?dalit rage? and
> the politics of exclusion which mark the
> intersections between (dalit)
> caste and politics? much of dalit politics has been
> based on the need
> to gain power, confer dignity, self respect etc. -
> so with the
> assumption of power are we now inevitably moving to
> step 2:
> implementation? or can we wonder about that
> progression?
> i?m not offering the ?what will she know of global
> politics? line,
> because of course i agree that for atleast a decade
> now, in terms of
> economic issues, elections seem to have been won on
> issues of democracy
> and social justice but then policies framed have
> been macro-economic,
> elite ones (this is what yadav calls the
> ?bifurcation of politics?? the
> bhasha-english divide)? but i am wondering how the
> shift will be made
> from what has been a politics of exclusion and
> discrimination to one of
> power and governance. in fact maybe i?ll stick my
> neck out further to
> suggest that to view hindol?s post as a MEMCRY
> lament alone is to miss
> the wood for the trees. the bsp is associated with
> amassing wealth,
> gaining power - what indicates that these traits
> will change now, or
> that they will work well on the natl/intl arena?
> ps: and need i say, my views do not represent those
> of cnn-ibn etc. etc.!hemangini
> On Fri, 18 May 2007 05:20:25 -0700 (PDT) gouri
> wrote This is a very moving response to a yuppy
> view of politics. Ordinarily such responses tend to
> be self-righteous and have a very angry tone. It is
> difficult not to be. best, Gouri --- Shivam Vij
> wrote: > Thanks for posting this Rakesh. This
> is a very > important post on the > CNN IBN
> website\'s otherwise dull blog section. It > has
> been written by > Hindol Sengupta who covers
> fashion and suchlike for > them. He says he
> > can\'t relate to Mayawati, finds it ironic that
> the > \"backbone of the > knowledge,
> entreneurial [sic] economy\" should be a >
> \"non-vote bank\". He > says that his class of
> people, his \'type\' - People > Like Us, to use
> a > cliche - \"rejoice every time Manmohan Singh
> takes > stage\" but alas, > even he
> couldn\'t win a Lok Sabha election from South >
> Delhi. > > The reason why I think it is an
> important post is > that unlike most > other
> PLUs, Sengupta makes no claim to >
> \'objectivity\'. When Youth for > Equality /
> United Students / other >
> \'anti-reservationists\' oppose > reservations,
> and speak about Dalits/OBCs, they > claim to be
> doing so > with a claim to \'objectivity\', that
> is, they do not > admit that the >
> viewpoint(s) they are putting forward are of a >
> certain section of > society that is influential
> in shaping public > opinion despite being in
> > a minority. > > Sengupta admits not
> only his discomfiture with a > democratically
> > elected Mayawati but also that his discomfiture
> > stems from his > background, from who he
> is. He describes himself and > his ilk as >
> \"middle-class, educated, metro-bred, >
> Christian-education raised, > young.\" That
> would abbreviate into MEMCRY, but let\'s > just
> use the word > \'yuppie\'. > > It is
> quite extraordinary and laudatory for a yuppie >
> to admit his > distance from the political rise
> of the \'low-class, > neo-literate, >
> village-bred, government school-raised, middle >
> aged\'. Such an > admission is a rarity, and it
> is exactly what the >
> \'anti-anti-reservationists\' want the >
> \'anti-reservationists\' to admit. > >
> Sengupta\'s \'realisation\', though, is an
> incomplete > one. Except for a > passing
> reference in the last paragraph, he does not >
> mention that the > distance between Us and Them
> is in great measure > that of language. >
> Conversations on class, social mobility and suchlike
> > these days seem > to forget the
> Hindi/English divide. It has been left > to
> Kancha Iliah > and Chandrabhan Prasad now to
> remind us of it. > > Unfortunately the
> realisation of his being a PLU > doesn\'t go too
> far. > But the honesty does extend to his class
> bias: his > problem with Lalu > having a
> buffaloes in his backyard and on Mayawati > he
> writes: \"But > forward planning? Infrastructure
> ideas? Modernity? > Mayawati, alas, is > the
> quintessential behenji.\" > > So what about
> Lalu\'s success as railway minister? > Could it
> be that > Mayawati hasn\'t been able to work on
> development > because she\'s not > been in
> power for more than two years collectively > in
> three terms? > Could it be that Mayawati\'s
> Ambedkar Villages scheme > has made the >
> ceiling fan finally whirl in a few villages and
> > allowed a few Dalits > to gather the
> courage to go to the police station > and file
> an FIR > against the men who raped their
> daughter? Could it > be that the >
> Dalit-Brahmin alliance by Mayawati could force a
> > Brahmin or two to > give up untouchability
> and accept dalits as part of > the same social
> > realm as theirs? > > The questions
> don\'t bother Sengupta because the > answers
> don\'t affect > him. In other words, another
> area where I would like > Sengupta to >
> extend his realisation to is middle class >
> self-centredness. The middle > class cares only
> about itself, the rest may go to > hell. If this
> is > true even in perception, that is bad
> enough. > > I also hope his realisation
> will sooner or later > extend to adding the
> > phrase \'upper caste\' to MEMCRY. After so much
> heat > on reservations, > are the yuppies
> still blind to the fact that PLUs > are
> exclusively > upper-caste? Whether its is by
> design or default > that the middle class >
> is predominantly (if not exclusively) upper caste is
> > arguable. Whether > this should be changed
> by improving the quality of > primary schools
> > and/or by reservations in higher education, is
> > debatable. But no one > can dispute that
> the Indian middle class is composed > of the
> upper > castes. Yet they choose not to admit
> this. Sengupta > honestly admits > that his
> convent education, metropolitan upbringing, >
> class status are > the causes of his dismay (and
> \'fear\'!) over > Mayawati\'s victory. I wish
> > he\'d extend this honesty to admitting that his
> caste > is responsible in > the first place
> for his MEMCRY yuppie status. > > He
> detests the heartland politicians because they >
> don\'t speak his > idiom. But the heartland
> politicians are who they > are largely because
> > of their caste. > > Kumari Mayawati,
> Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Vilas > Paswan, Lalu
> Prasad > Yadav and others of their ilk are
> symbols, > literally, of the political >
> assertion of those below the middle class. The logic
> > of such political > assertion, according
> to Sengupta, is: > > \"It\'s the same logic
> that
=== message truncated ===>
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