Monumental Comeback

It seems to be a weekly affair, the filing of public interest litigations against the Mayawati government. It seems to be a weekly affair, the filing of public interest litigations against the Mayawati government. For once, though, it is to her advantage. After the debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, attributed largely to the decline in her Dalit vote share, Mayawati has suddenly forgotten her ‘sarvajan’ slogan and become pro-Dalit again. Before the election, she wanted to be PM because she was the daughter of a Dalit; after the election, it is the conspiracy of the big parties to prevent the daughter of a Dalit from becoming PM. Such projection of victimhood is the rhetoric driving her return to the Dalit agenda. The Lok Sabha performance, coupled with Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive wooing of the Dalit vote, has made her the Gandhi-bashing Mayawati of yore. At such a juncture, for her Dalit monuments and statues to have become a matter of controversy is just what she would have wanted. While the Samajwadi Party promises to bulldoze her six statues in Lucknow, the Congress and BJP realise the dilemma of being seen as anti-Dalit. Mayawati is probably smiling at the Supreme Court notice.