Maya's march to Delhi: But is she PM material?

EYE ON DELHI: Mayawati's ulitmate, long-term aim is to capture power in New Delhi.

          

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Chari, however, maintained the credit of having made Dalits figures of reckoning in Indian politics. But he also pointed out what could be a fatal flow for BSP. “We’ve had some very towering Dalit leaders. The issue is BSP made its political debut saying: tilak, tarazoo aur talwar, inko maaro joote chaar. Only when they became inclusive did they include the mainstream communities into it. It was only then that their support base increased. Now the question is if she can increase her support base or will she remain an exclusive Dalit leader,” Chari said.

Pai agreed with Chari and said it was a tough ask for Maya. “What if BJP and Congress recover, the upper class might just go back to them. Dalits may not like it,” she said.

Is Mayawati a "true" Dalit leader or an opportunist?

Illaiah jumped to Mayawati’s defence and said BSP was opportunist in the sense that it was giving an opportunity of representation to Dalits. “All castes should get representation according to population levels. But Dalits must be in the league. Mayawati has done just that,” he said.

But Pai did not agree. She explained the politics that goes behind the making of a national leader. “In states like Himachal, BSP’s percentage has gone up but it has also gone down in states like Punjab and Haryana. There are certain problems in spreading beyond UP. In the Hindi heartland, Cong is not on a decline except in UP and Bihar. In MP, Rajasthan - where two-party system is still prevalent - it’s still there along with the BJP. Many OBCs wouldn’t want Dalits to come up and so they support Congress. South of Vindhyas, there’s a different kind of problem. Maharashtra will be very harsh to her despite the lack of political leadership there. In Tamil Nadu, it’s a very different kind of Dalit politics with Periyar in background. It’s going to be tough for her to create a pan-Indian identity,” she pointed out.

If Deve Gowda can, why not Maya?

This argument drew sharpest of responses from the panelists. Chari said the comparison was silly as Gowda and even I K Gujral became PM in certain circumstances. “To become a PM, you need a political party and a support base, you to have vision and you need to be a team leader. Has Mayawati been able to project a vision and convince people?”

Illaiah retored sharply and said BJP, too, had no vision. ”Is there a vision with Advani? Was there one with Vajpayee? There was no vision with Ambedkar or Kanshi Ram either. So what vision is Mr Chari taking about?” he questioned.

End of the debate, while Chari and Pai maintained Mayawati needed to have impressive kind of numbers and acceptability in to run a national-level coaltion, Illaiah said she was a “different” leader. “She is a radical woman with short hair who never wears sari. Women politicians in the Left or even in the Right look, so-to-say, typically Indian. So you can’t understand a person based on your understanding of culture. She is a different kind of leader and will be accepted like that,” Illaiah concluded.

Results of the SMS/Web poll:

Question: Is Mayawati India’s future prime minister

Yes: 35 per cent

No: 65 per cent