Why Will Mayawati Never Be Questioned About Her Currency Garland?

Why is Ms. Mayawati focusing on showcasing her wealth and power amidst the poor, needy people of her state instead of even trying to pretend that she is doing them any good? The logic is a golden old rule followed universally - people are always happier to see 'their own people' getting the success that they think is beyond their scope!
Let me substantiate what I say by a few examples:

1. Ambedkar v/s Gandhi:
   Gandhi dedicated a major part of his life towards the upliftment of the 'harijans' and other people who were being shoved into the darkness through generations of casticized underdevelopment. Ambedkar, on the other hand, was one among the oppressed who was able to break free and emerge as the brightest 'harijan' of India (of perhaps all times!). His contribution toward the upliftment of his own people while notable is nothing compared to the efforts of Gandhi. It is not uncommon to find the reference of Gandhi missing in 'Dalit rallies', etc. but Ambedkar's garlended picture gone missing would cost the leader his position and respect.


2. Amitabh v/s development of Allahabad:
   Amitabh contested elections in Allahabad way back in the times of Rajiv Gandhi. Won by a tremendous margin of votes and all that he did after that was to disappear from his constituency altogether! While no development was done by this Superstar, 'ganga kinare ka chora', in his own City, people of Allahabad never miss a chance to mention the origins of the Big Boss of Bollywood and have easily forgotten the wasted 5 years of the city's history. The pride of someone growing up in those same dusty roads and reaching such great heights lets people ignore the dusty roads forever!


3. The Mittals and the other genius Indians settled out of India:
   There is immense intellectual and material wealth resting with people of Indian origin who have settled outside India. We are content with the regocnition that India gets with the reference provided by their origins. Not many people question thier intent of coming back and contributing in the development of the nation.

The fact is that when the Sahara becomes big the Bengali community rejoices, when a Mayawati wears a 15 cr garland the 'Dalit' community congratulates each other, when Dhoni drives his bike beauties on the dusty roads of Jharkhand or when Sachin asks for a tax relaxation to bring his expensive gifts home the fans look at them with awe, the pride in 'owning' these celebrities is just too big to be drowned away by the want to question any motive which is hindering in their own development.

The Global Guilt is not helping the under-developed societies like Africa

How and why the US and the other 'white powers' help the black of the southern hemisphere! A global 'white' guilt is being exploited by the political powers of the west with vested interests in the resource rich land known for its diamonds and yet to be exploited oil. The pre-recession era of the west was a place which had more money and less happ'y'ness. It is mostly a 'persuit' of this happiness that has been driving the white upperclass of rich nations to do charity in godforsaken lands like Africa (and India, recently even more after the success of Slumdog Millionare) and when charity comes so easy everyone joins hands to contribute. Giving away a day's burger can buy education for a girl in Africa some say. The charity is good but the problem is that the effort ends just there. No follow ups are made by most people, they trust their govenments which shows them impoverished faces with smiles and a bright colored flag on their favorite TV channels.
Movies like 'Black Diamond' are rare and though appreciated they fail miserably to excite the fancies of most. The west has been able to get to what it wants on most occasions. Many African governments are formed by the consensus of a 'white board' mostly populated by US and UK diplomats. If a couple of 'talks' and a donation of the surplus money of its nation can buy a land rich in resources, who would say no? The situation in a few other countries was similar. The west had an overwhelming interest in their resources and what followed was Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, etc. In these places the society had a tougher political structure and a resilient army to involve in a fight-back. Africa, sadly, has been slow to evolve to be a strong resistance (or terrorists as they are mosty referred to by the west for most other cultures) and centuries of oppression and slavery could be blamed for this.
How is India and the subcontinent different, now? Drastically! We have emerged as important players in the economic scene of the world, have an intimidating armed force and a global presence (even a couple of Indians helping Obama frame laws for America!). It is another thing that most important resource of India is 'Human' and it is in the best interest of the west to reap the benifits of the human resource that is reared by the Indian Government and works for them! A colony (or colony like establishment like in Iraq and many parts of Africa) would result in weakening this important resource. The 'Slumdog' is infact bailing out the west out of these tough times in many ways.
Post recession things have changed. The west is no longer happy and no longer rich (like it was before). Most charities have dried up as even the big corporates who wanted to gain some SRI (Socially Responsible Index) points are now shying away from donating to the poorer continents.
So, the big question is, "Can money relieve the situation or is something else needed?" The answer is not simple but a number of measures like political influence, physical engagement, representation of these countries in the world forums/culture, development of industries inside Africa and a genuine support for the existing ones can make a big difference to the current situation.
How would Obama be different? Being a black and all he's expected to bring about a sea change to the situation not just in America but in the world (or the 'world' of America at least!). But, quite frankly, how black he really is? Obama is, first, an American citizen who has lived his life like one. His political career is not motivated by the evils against the blacks (something that motivated Martin Luther King) but rather the equality that he's enjoyed for major part of his life. A comparison which is often drawn is that of Mayawati aka Behenji. The parallel, unfortunately, lies just in the heads of a few media folks and is far from being a ground reality. A dalit, girl child in rural parts of India suffers much more than the 'black American citizen' of modern times can even imagine. She has been a champion of equality and life for the dalits in India and if continents like Africa have to come up with the modern society they need many more leaders like her rather than a philanthropic monetary effort as an outcome of a guilt which has always pressed the white population of the world pre-recession.

Behenji's Lucknow

Lucknow and Kanpur recently appeared among the top 10 cities in India for business/industry in of the leading business magazines. There are a lot of things working in favor of these UP cities like a very enthusiastic and young population, low infrastructural costs, a 'supportive' state government. I had the opportunity to visit Lucknow a couple of days back. It was a short journalistic stint which lasted a single night. I reached Lucknow at 8:00pm and spent the night roaming in different areas of the city finally leaving in the morning at 6:00am!
Most areas of the city are in fact very safe even at night, I could find police forces almost everywhere in the city (though none of them were alert and paid attention to people like me roaming at night, taking pictures. I could have easily been some terror element). The roads are nicely lit, which is a pleasant surprise in any UP city. One of my friends in Lucknow told me that there were no power cut in the city since the last few years. For a state in which most other (important) cities like Allahabad, Varanasi, etc. are facing a heavy power shortage with just under 20 hours of electricity provided on most days, this is quite a feat. The financial capital of India, the resurgent IT capital (Hyderabad) all are facing regular power cuts. The only street which was poorly lit was the one dedicated to the citizens by the former chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav. The street lamps were either broken or missing and along the stretch of a few kilometers I could not locate even a single police post, the only mistake of this forsaken road being its apparent loyalty to the Mulayam government.
There has been a recent development in the city politics with Mr. Akhilesh Das (the former Congress and SP supporter) joining Behenji's brigade. Huge banners and hoarding plastered the city streets pledging support of a few sections (read casts) of the city to the potent Behenji. This power show was atleast worth a few million rupees which could easily be utilized in much more thoughtful ways.
The whole city seems to have been engulfed in a 'blue' light. The color of the lights to light up major city statues, the lights around the road crossing, all other major structures were flooded with blue light signifying the illuminance of BSP waiting to spread on to Delhi with Behenji dabbing Delhi in blue hue.
The area near the railway station (central) and Hazaratganj is donned by many statues, some old and forgotten like that of Mahatma Gandhi and some immersed in heavenly blue light surrounded by scores of Policemen. While the blue statues (thus heavily guarded) fail to be more than a landmark for the city, the Mahatma's statue was still providing shelter to the homeless at night (see picture below).

With such disparity between the capital of UP and its other cities in almost all areas of development, it is a tormenting thought to think of Mayawati as the PM of India. If such a thing does happen I hope that BSP rises from its 'power-show-politics' and beings to think of the greater good of the underprivileged sections of the society which it claims to represent.

MAYA-wati starts glittering b4 her state does..

Mayawati is bringing in lot of hope and goodwill amongst all people of Uttar Pradesh. But while she was busy was the election campaign and as the leader of opposition, she simultaneously increased her assets by 400 %. While filling a nomination for Lok Sabha elections in 2004, she declared her assets at a little over Rs 11 crore. And now according to TOI’s latest report, she declared her current assets to exceed Rs. 52..5 crore..
But then the boom is real estate is a crime factor behind this.. She invested at some prime properties in Delhi – one at Sardar Patel Marg is worth Rs 18 crores (though the real estate agents quote a much higher rate).. Commercial properties – 2 at Connaught Place worth 3.3 crores and 1 at Okhla worth Rs 15.5 crores.
But at the same time she added jewellery and diamonds worth ove Rs 70 lakh and money in banks and other financial institutes have grown from Rs 9 crore to around Rs 13 crore.
Now she is getting busy to pay a penalty and settle the I-T demand.
Before I end listen to this interesting fact: she doesn’t own a car, agricultural or non-agricultural land.