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Mayawati (Hindi: ) (born 15 January 1956) is the Chief Minister[2]

ofUttar

Pradesh, India.[3][4]

She heads the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents the Bahujans orDalits, the

weakest strata of Indian society. This is her fourth term as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. An icon for

millions of India's Dalits, who were oppressed by the Hindu uppercastes for centuries, she is often

referred to as Behen-ji, which means sister.[5]

Mayawati's rise from humble beginnings has been called a "miracle of democracy" by P. V.Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India.

[6]In 1993 she formed a coalition with the Samajwadi

Party and emerged, at 39, the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the first Dalit woman

Chief Minister in India.[5]

In 1997 and in 2002, she was Chief Minister in coalition with the Bharatiya

Janata Party, the second time for a full term. In two of these coalitions, she withdrew her support on

29 August 2003 halfway through the term.

Mayawati's tenure has attracted considerable controversy. She is now India's richest Chief

Minister.[7]

The rise in her personal wealth[8]

and that of her party[9]

are described by critics as

indicators of corruption.[5][10]

Acts such as pulling down a stadium to build a monument to leaders of

her party, including herself, are seen as whimsical and arbitrary,[11] and her style has been compared

to "running a fiefdom".[12]

Political career

In 1984 Kanshi Ram founded the BSP as a party to represent the Dalits and Buddhists.[17]

Mayawati

was a key member of this organisation. BSP fielded Mayawati for i ts first election campaign from

the KairanaLok Sabha (Lower House) seat in the Muzaffarnagar district in 1984, and then again for

the Lok Sabha seats ofBijnorin 1985 and Haridwarin 1987. In 1989 she was elected for the Lok

Sabha seat of Bijnor, with a total of 183,189 votes.[18][19]

Although BSP did not win, the electoral experience led to considerable activity for Mayawati over the

next five years, as she worked with Mahsood Ahmed and other organisers. In the 1989 election, the

party won 9% of the popular vote and 13 seats. It won 11 seats in the 1991 election. Because the

Dalits are widely spread over the state, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati then adopted a policy of attracting

other groups, which continues today.

Mayawati won election to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1989, from Bijnor. In 1995, while a

member of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House), she became a Chief Minister in a short-lived coalition

government, and validated her position by winning from two constituencies in 1996. She was again

Chief Minister for a short period in 1997, and then for a somewhat longer term in coalition with

the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 2003. Before that in 2001 her mentor, Bahujan Samaj Party

(BSP) president Kanshi Ram, named her as his successor.

Mayawati has said in an interview that she has no time for family life or romantic relationships

because she wants to focus on her political career and this is why she remains unmarried.

[20]

[edit]2007 UttarPradesh Assemblyelections

Contrary to some poll predictions, BSP won a majority in the 2007 elections, the first such majority

since 1991. Mayawati attracted support from Brahmins, Thakurs, Muslims, and members ofother

backward classes. These people voted for a Dalit party for the first time, partly because BSP had

offered seats to people from these communities. The campaign was accompanied by a colourful

slogan: Haathi nahin, Ganesh hain, Brahma, VishnuMaheshHain: "The elephant (BSP Logo) is really


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the Lord Ganesha, the trinity of gods rolled into one". Her new slogan invited everyone, including the

higher castes, to "come ride the elephant", her party's election symbol.[5]

[edit]ChiefMinister, 2007

Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time on 13 May 2007. She

announced an agenda that focused on providing social justice to the weaker sections of society and

providing employment instead of distributing money to the unemployed. Her slogan was to make"Uttar Pradesh" ("Northern Province") into "Uttam Pradesh" ("Excellent Province").

In 2007 Mayawati's government began a major crackdown on irregularities in the recruitment process

of police officers recruited during the previous Mulayam Singh government. So far 17,868 policemen

have lost their jobs for irregularities in the recruitment process and 25 IPS officers were suspended for

their involvement in corruption while recruiting the police constables.[21][22]

Mayawati is instituting

reforms to introduce transparency into the recruiting process, including posting results of selection

exams online.[23]

As part of her social reform plans she advocates reservation for the poor among upper castes in

addition to reservation for weaker sections of society. Reservation in India is a system whereby a

percentage of government positions and seats in all universities are reserved for persons in backward

classes and scheduled castes and tribes.[24]

[edit]2009 parliamentaryelections

The BSP won 20 seats in Lok Sabha from the state of Uttar Pradesh in the 2009 elections. The BSP

obtained the highest percentage (27. 42%) of votes in Uttar Pradesh for any one political party. It was

in third position in terms of national polling percentage (6.17%).[25]

[edit]Political and legal issues

[edit]Tajcorridorcase

Main article: Taj corridor case

In 2003 the CBI raided Mayawati's residence in relation to the Taj corridor case, two days after it hadfiled an First Information Report against her.

[26]This led to discovery of assets disproportionate to her

known income.[27][28]

In June 2007 The UP Governor T.V. Rajeswar has said that there isn't enough evidence against UP

Chief Minister Mayawati for her prosecution in the Taj Corridor case. Governor Rajeswar in his 23-

page order refused to grant sanction to prosecute Mayawati in the taj Corridor scam, Governor

Rajeswar in his 23-page order said: 'the fact that the Mission Management Board, consisting of

officers of both the State and the Central Government, regularly met and discussed the project and

the fact that even a sum of Rs. 17 crore was spent through the Central Government public sector

undertaking, NPCC, all go to show that the serious offences with which Mayawati and the Minister

were charged do not stand scrutiny..'[29]

Advocates challenged the Governor's T.V. Rajeswar decision in court, but failed as the Supreme

Court rejected plea of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and by refusing to direct state

Governor T V Rajeshwar for granting sanction to prosecute her, and effectively ending the Taj corridor

case before going to trial.[30][31][32]

[edit]Birthdays

Mayawati's past birthdays have been major media events, where she appeared laden with

diamonds.[5]

Her supporters have declared her birthday as Jan Kalyankari Diwas (People's Welfare


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Day). In 2009 the day was marked by the announcement of welfare schemes targeted towards poor

and downtrodden people of the state.[33]

Her 2010 birthday was marked by the launch of programmes

with a value of over Rs 7,312 crores. [34]

[edit]Disproportionateassetscase

Mayawati's assets run into millions of dollars, with several properties to her name.[5] In the 200708

assessment year, Mayawati paid an income tax of Rupees 26 crores, ranking among the top 20

taxpayers in the country. Earlier the CBI had filed a case against her for owning assets

disproportionate to her known sources of income. Mayawati described the CBI investigation against

her as illegal.[35]

Her party asserts that her income comes from gifts and small contributions made by

party workers and supporters.[36][37]

On August 3, 2011 Delhi High court has dismissed centers appeal against Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Mayawati stating that "she(Mayawati) has fully discharged her obligations by disclosing the

identities of all of her donors, the gifts had been donated by her supporters.[38]

The central government decided not to file an appeal in Supreme Court against the Delhi High Courts

decision to uphold an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) favoring Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Mayawati, in Disproportionate assets case.[39]

[edit]Statues

In her tenures as a Chief Minister, Mayawati erected number of statues of Buddhist and Dalit icons

like Gautam Buddha, Ravidas, Narayana Guru, Jyotirao Phule, Shahuji Maharaj,Periyar

Ramasami, Bhimrao Ambedkar, BSP founderKanshi Ram, and of herself.[40]

She claims that the

expenditure on statues and symbols of Dalit Icons was required because the past governments did

not show respect towards Dalit icons, in whose memory nothing was ever built.[41]

She has spent over

Rs 2,500 crore on projects of five parks and memorials like B R Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan

Sthal and Manyavar Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, built in the name of Bhimrao Ambedkar, Ramabai

Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram in Lucknow between 2007 and 2009.[42][43]

The Comptroller and Auditor

General of India reported that Rs. 15 Crore was spent on memorials.[44]

The Supreme Court of India

admitted a Public Interest Litigationquestioning this expenditure. In February 2010, Mayawati'sgovernment approved a plan for a special police force to protect the statues. She feared that her

political opponents might demolish the statues.[45]

There are incidents of vandalism of statues of Dr.

Bhimrao Ambedkar in India.[46][47][48][49]

In October 2011 Mayawati inaugurated the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden, built at a

cost of 685 crores.[50]

Since the memorial also features her own statues, Mayawati was accused by

the Indian National Congress of wasting the tax-payers' money.[51]

The BSP dismissed the

allegations, and stated that her statues were erected because Kanshi Ram's will requested that his

statues should be constructed next to those of the current President of BSP. Mayawati accused the

Congress of being "anti-Dalit".[51]

[edit]WorldBankcriticism

The World Bank loaned India funds for development, and Mayawati was to manage projects with this

money in UP.[52]

The projects were preplanned and on schedule, but the Mayawati government made

changes which put the project behind schedule. The World Bank sent a 1 August 2002 letter of

complaint to India's central government stating, "We have now learnt that project managers have

been replaced within three weeks of assuming office. The project coordinator of the Diversified

Agriculture Support Project has been changed twice in quick succession and at the moment there is

no project coordinator. In the forestry project, numerous changes have been made over the past six


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months ... Such developments do not augur well for these time-bound projects that require

consistently good leadership."[53]

[edit]WikiLeaksallegations

Diplomatic cables published in 2011 through WikiLeaks detailing the opinions of American civil

servants asserted that Mayawati ran all governmental decisions through her small group of advisors

and that she employed food tasters for security.[54] The diplomatic cables also alleged that Mayawati

sent a private jet to Mumbai to retrieve some sandals.[55] Mayawati responded to the cables by saying

that the statements they presented were baseless.[56]

[edit]Other

Kanshi Ram, head of the Bahujan Samaj Party, praised Mayawati at her 47th birthday celebrations for

her fundraising activities on behalf of the party. He stated that the party's eventual goal is to gain

power in Delhi, and that Mayawati's efforts help in that quest.[57]

Mayawati's public meetings are attended by large audiences, using slogans such as "Kanshi Ram ka

mission Adhoora; karegi Behen Mayawati poora" (Kanshi Ram's unfulfilled mission will be completed

by Mayawati), "Behenji tum sangharsh karo; hum tumhare saath hain"(Sister, go ahead with your

struggle; we are with you).[58]

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