[...] Backstory of Statues 2009 July 1 tags: Ambedkar, caste, Dalit, Maywati by Prabin It is rather insipid, the incessant attack on Statues and Memorials, the newspapers telling us how many hundreds of crores are spent, as if the money is stashed away in the infamous “swiss banks”; how the CM’s pet projects never end, as if bridges and roads come up overnight in India-they rather go down; how the workers are paid minimum wage, as if there is a concept of ethical-structure/buildings in India; how some labourers died, thats serious i agree. The chattering class didnt just object the grand statues in lucknow because of the expenses, but also to the proliferation of blue jacket and glasses clad, constitution carrying Ambedkar statues all over India. This can mislead you, as to what are they really opposed to. I have tried to answer it in the light of BSP’s political strategy in this new blog Round Table. [...]

Now that Nilekeni has been appointed for the UID project. You should start beating your chests.

Just wait for a couple of more years and Mayavathi will be history. The Bahujan formula is now decimated. The Bahujan + Sarvajan formula much more so. Tyag Mata Sonia Gandhiji and Krantiveer Yuva nayak Rahul Gandhiji have already got support from Dalits back into the congress fold. Dalit’s have realised Mayavati is no good. The OBC’s are going to abandon SP for congress. Why would any one support a dead horse. Muslims have no option but to support congress because they are afraid of Hindutva through BJP. No prizes for guessing whom the upper caste fellows will vote – the congress of course.
The only hope for Mayavathi is a resurgent Hindutva and a fractured mandate. That’s not going to happen since the Nuke deal is already signed and there are bigger forces in play. Its going to be goodbye to Mayavathi pretty soon. Congress will rule India. They are the best, the party of AO Hume, Annie Beasant, Dadabahai Naoroji, Tilak, Gokhala,Motilal,Gandhi, Jawahar, Indira, Rajeev, Tyagmata Soniaji and Krantiveer Yuvanayak Rahulji – Jai Ho.

Prabin - interesting point of view. However it is very difficult for me to understand and appreciate conceptual achievements such as *fortifying a political space*, especially when it does not directly translate into more and better education, health and employment for the people.

Can you clarify how the costs and benefits of these statues play out with respect to the Dalits of UP.

Thanks,
Rashmi

Topi,

good luck and Jai Bhim

A nice piece prabin…
Mayavati has given an apt reply to the court and these kinds of queries in the same vein, keeping withiin the rhetorics of developemntal framework that even court and those crave for education, health and other things would prefer to follow… what they forget is that the symbolic emancipation one feels in each and every moment of assertion could be translated much better to a materialistic realm and salvation as well… for eg; the fight for the right to education of Dalits by Ayyankali in kerala’s colonial milie happens in the context of his assertion to claim and occupy public spaces.. if one mocks at the famous “villuvandi yathra” and asks what is its relevance for poor Dalits, the answer is without that self respecting journey, defying the ire of casteist nairs/brahmins it may not have possible to translate the message of emancipation into right to education, health, reservation, employment etc. It is this moment of cultural and political emancipation which wil gets translated into the social realm later.
thanks

Hi Rashmi,

I understand your discomfort. I have argued that building the statues/memorials is a political strategy ( in addition to being conceptual achievement as you say) not just absurdity. There is a politician’s view of looking at it and there is a common person’s. Let’s say, the estimated cost of the project is Rs. 3000 crore (as per TOI). For you and me, it is a huge sum which can be spent on social welfare schemes. Whereas for BSP and Mayawati, if Rs. 3000 crore in statues and structures gives them another stint of 5 yrs to implement their social welfare programmes directed at Dalits, then it is a better scheme (than spending Rs. 3000 crore once in one term and not get elected again). From the perspectives of UP Dalits too its better. Compare Rs. 3000 crore+ 5 yr(X thousand crores) under a Dalit party followed up by a non-Dalit govt. against 5 yr(X thousand crores) multiplied by 2 under a Dalit party govt. If I remember correctly, not just the Amberkar Memorial Park project but other developmental projects of Mayawati govt. were scrapped by Mulayam Singh. A longer term Dalit party rule is in the best interests of the Dalits.

It is just my hypothesis (I would be glad to be proved wrong since all of us are prone to “confirmation bias”), but if we draw up a pay-off table like that of “prisoner’s dilemma”, we will see the best strategy is to spend the Rs. 3000 on statues. That is when the statues and memorials can increase the probability of BSP winning (and everything else be same as in 2007). That’s why it is important for the opposition to dub Mayawati “megalomaniac”, BSP anti-development and Rs. 3000 crores as complete waste so that the Dalits have an ambiguous feeling about it. Otherwise, Rs. 3000 crore is a drop in the ocean of the amount of public money lost or wasted.

thanks Ranjit, I didnt know about ‘villuvandi yathra’. I have been observing the arguments of development for some time, especially in Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput of orissa where struggle against industrial displacement is pitted against rhetorics of development. You articulate it so well. thanks again. May be we can share Mayawati’s response to the court in the main page or link in the blog.

>> Mayawati’s purpose will be defeated only when Dalits are led to believe that the statues and the memorials were inconsequential.

Why should the icon be statues? Why not fellowships for dalit students? Why not commission book writing projects to resurrect all the dalit icons that have got short shrift in history?

Dalit icons have an important role for dalits as well as the majority and their absence needs to addressed. And she has the power to do so. I salute her achievement to be in that position. But I am not at all sure that symbolization through statues is the most effective way. It is the easiest symbol to erase, if you looked for all the female rulers achievements of the world you would not find it in physical structures, they have been replaced, vandalized or removed without a trace. But those who left or could be symbolized in words have remained in public memory. And the dalits need that kind of effort, for the battle is not just the next election and it is not restricted to UP alone. How many dalits from Karnataka or Kerala villages are going to be able to see these symbols? But for immediate political gains, maybe, I am not sure, pride is vital but of little use without a means for a better day, unless she is able to at least assure that those concerns are very much on her agenda, the dalits (the entire spectrum) are not going to be taken in. They want symbolic and REAL change. I am not paying attention to what the mainstream is saying, I am looking from within and these are my thoughts.

That said, this is a great post and timely!

Why she wear golden ear rings? Why she wear diamond nose rings? Why she cuts cake on her birthday? Why she at all celebrates her birthday?

Why she has a flat in south delhi’s posh area? Why she keeps bob-cut hair?? why she takes first name of the people?? why she does not add ji to the people’s name?

Why why why why why why

Why she carries 2000Rs purse, why she wears shining pink suits
Doesn’t she know her place??

Why why why why Why why why

Why she is not the epitome of Bhartiya nari - karat, sonia and sushma - wearing bindi and sari…..Why why why why why

*hick* *hick* why….wh..w. *hick*

[...] So, why do I not buy the well argued posts in support of Mayavati’s actions by Kuffir, RW and Prabin, not because I don’t value, the in the face attitude and literally in their lives -life size [...]

why not statues?
Statues are visible icons that register in the mind of a civilisation about the travails a society has undergone…
why not we all first go and break the statues of Gandhi, Nehru, Bose, Indira, Tagore, all kings and queens,,,, and come back to discuss mayavati’s statue…
why we were silent over all these years abt these statues.. what is the politics behind it?
howver, this should not restrict one from giving fellowships/jobs/ etc. which i think, mayavati does in a much better style than the Congresswallahs/BJP/CPI M…
seek the help of any Dalit student to understand the importance of the role mayavati has played in empowering DAlits…. this is just a begining … we DALITS are proud of her… we dont expect her to break the brahmincal structure so fast, but the sighs of it breaking down slowly is the happiest thing any indian should be proud of…. present-day Dalit icons such as Mayavati and Kanshi Ram have contrubutd immensly for that cause..
thanks

Hi Ranju,

I am a student in many ways (much older) if from my comment it was not evident, let me assert it, I am dalit.
Either leaders played no role in my life, some of us are not from UP, that does not mean I am not appreciative of dalit leaders, their efforts and the significance of their actions to the dalit community as a whole. I don’t have the time or the inclination to go around breaking anybody’s statues and my particular politics behind that is, I was and am too busy surviving. My comment was for the author of the post, whom I have known as one with an open and clear mind for a debate. I enjoyed your view point and appreciate the time you took to respond to my query, thank you.
As a student and as a dalit I ask myself questions before I ask of others, with that I rest my case.

Anoop:
Bada gandha “poem” hai bhai! :)! better to leave poetry to others!

On the subject of the issue at hand I do have problems with the way in which umpteen stone elephants are crowding one venue - hardly aesthetic… but I think if the focus is on assertion for visible symbols of Dalit consciousness the strategy of erecting public memorials is not a big problem, maybe the scale of the same can be faulted. Investing in human/social goods and services would be is more productive in both the short as well as the long run.

And while Topiwala is welcome to live in his own castle, one also wonders whether Mayawati needs to backtrack on some of the ways she has been doing governance. For instance I hardly see any women let alone Dalit women getting any visibility in the public arena in UP even with Mayawati now being the CM…as they saying goes, one swallow does not make a summer.

@anu
my comment was not just in response to yours.. and it is not gonna change just bz u r a Dalit. I respect your views (i respct any one else’) but it is time for Dalits like us to realise the political significance of being Dalit.. so that we can emancipate ourselves from the administrative categories such as SC/ST and from the laid down trap of statist “developmnt”…in fact, one should be able to strategically engage with both these … Mayavati does it quite well. ..

the mainstream discomfort with the way Mayavati is, exists preciely bz of this politics of difference… unless and until we articulate this ‘politic of differnce’ and document it historically/culturally/socially we may not be able to make claims on the discourse of development/education etc… as u may be aware that the developmnt discourse has been hijacked by brahmincal bureaucracy in india….
Dalit and Bahujan have their own role to play in breakng the statues that rule us from centuries…
thanks

…and when i talk of breaking the statues it implies that we should create our own statues as well… and statues will always be taller than human beings..

>But I am not at all sure that symbolization through statues is the most effective way. It is the >easiest symbol to erase, if you looked for all the female rulers achievements of the world you >would not find it in physical structures, they have been replaced, vandalized or removed without a >trace. But those who left or could be symbolized in words have remained in public memory.

i do agree with this point, but leave that job to Dalit historians/scholars… else THE HINDUs and Times Of Indias will cry “mayavati is re-writing history”… yes mayavati can play a major role here by supporting such initiatives as u mentioned..
addressing the immediate and thinking for the future — both are equally important.. Dalit cannot pick and choice either of these… they need both for the very survival ..
thanks

Prabin,

High time someone said this.. Thanks!

-sudeep

Sudeep,

I hope you have checked out readerswords, Kuffir, Time and Us on the same topic. Very interesting posts and follow-up discussions.

(OT: enjoyed ur comment to ratheesh’s post in fishpond)

thank you.

Prabin, I did. And also put all these arguments together on my blog. Thanks to Anoop, you and Insight:-) (And thanks for that OT comment. I may work on that and give it a better shape..)

“Mayawati’s purpose will be defeated only when Dalits are led to believe that the statues and the memorials were inconsequential.”

This is exactly the idea of the brahminical media behind all this hue and cry.

Another factor which needs a consideration is the duration of time in which these statues are built. If we go back and see there are statues of many people whose contributions to the society were much less than many of the dalit icons whose statues are built by Mayawati. But their statues were never seen as waste of money because of two reasons- 1. They are built in a long period of time and 2. Those icons don’t challenge the existing social, cultural or political hierarchies.

My heartiest congratulations on this post, as for many dalits like me are wondering about the interpretation of statues of Dalit icons in the so called mainstream media.

I m sure that structures she erected would continue to remind or haunt the casteist minds of the society who try to neglect the importance of dalits in all spheres be it [ political, social, or developmental] of the country .

I am tempted to post this text content with link, and without comment:

The illusion of images

Mayawati’s latest obsession with statues may cost the exchequer a lot, but her idolatory does not threaten the social fabric, feels S. ANAND

Unveiling idols: Celebrating Ambedkar

The statues Mayawati erects and the massive birthday cakes she cuts do not usually bother me. The same media that heaps scorn on Mayawati habitually and predictably, enthusiastically celebrates and participates in Rahul Gandhi’s paternalistic and offensive gesture of getting the Congress cadre to feed Dalits on his birthday, and gleefully reports the gestural politics of his occasionally spending a night in Dalit homes. I am, in many ways, unrepentantly proud of Mayawati. Here’s a Dalit woman who bears no patriarchal initial or surname; a woman who perhaps shall leave no progeny behind. A self-made icon who is not Maa in a mother-goddess fixated nation, but Behen (sister). A voice of the disinherited who has turned the legacy of inherited brutalities into an instrument of political power.
Mayawati is not adequately appreciated for scrapping an order by Uttar Pradesh’s university and college principals to ban young women on campuses from sporting jeans—smacking of gender bias and moral policing. But in the news, again, is her obsession with statues of Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, and now, of herself. Mayawati’s statues may cost the exchequer a lot, but unlike the secret installation of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, her idolatry does not threaten the social fabric. The erection of statues is not, anyway, Mayawati’s unique idea. Statues,and the symbolism inherent in them, have for long been a way of claiming and reclaiming public space.
The spread of Buddhism ensured that life-size and giant images of the Buddha sprouted across South Asia and the Far East. The first temples (stupas) in the subcontinents were for the Buddha, Tara and other Buddhist deities. Emperor Asoka’s edicts and pillars of the third century BCE, at a time when there was little Brahmi literacy in India, have survived to tell us the tale of the spread of dhamma. After Buddhism was brutally stamped out of the country of its origin, what we recognize today as ‘Hindu temples’ began to spring from the eighth century onwards, their spread spurred by the bhakti movement and the worship of beloved deities.

Read the full article at http://www.hindu.com/mag/2009/07/05/stories/2009070550120400.htm

Best,
(Venu).

thnks venugopalji,
i was just gonna post the same link…
few remarks:
1) i would disagree with Nicolas Jaoul and S Anand when they echo a caste hindu elitist Dalit-bashing against Dalit middle class.. with my own experience living in a metro city and a modern secular space like a central universty, i would argue that time has not come for DAlits to undermine the isssue of ‘dignity’. if my experinece as a DAlit metro-sexual middles class living in metro city like delhi is so depressing, i am not sure abt how ’saturation theory’ of nicolas would work in UPs villages/cities…
2) I would agree with ambedkar and in that respect with S Anand’s take on education/librararies…
3) on hero-worship- i would rather go ahead of Ambedkar’s time and argue for the need for hero-worship/DAlit role models/icons in order to culturally/politically/socially motivate Dalits to belive in themselves.
4) going back to Ambedkar is not to divert from the present political needs; but to strengthen it.. Ambedkar should not be a point of stagnation, but a force that can motivate us to forge ahead against Brahminism/caste/gender violence and for socio-economic growth/cultural and social equality/poltical power/dignity/self respect etc.
thanks

Dear Venuettan,

This piece may have been written with good intentions but when it appears in ‘The Hindu’, I’d certainly argue against it. The only purpose it serves is to mock Mayavati and to please the Tam Brahm elite (and CPM elite) readers.

Regards
Sudeep

[...] was to continue the discussion here, but became to long for a comment. The dalit women heroes of the 1857 Rebellion have become symbols [...]

The Statue debate really an unnecessary and foolish one. In every issues dalits or Dalit Leaders are connected or concerned ? The So called Brahmins are always like this? They have no worry about, the every idiots have hundreds and thousands statues in prime spots , and every nook and corner of India.They have no pain for spending crores of public money for that.
So dear brothers don`t bother, Now our turn,
we will do,we must do, we will create thousands more.

The controversy is deep and requires more understanding of the Indian society and politics than what the common non-dalit is tempted to infer from the surface.
Firstly, why is it that the statues are a “waste of money”? The money that is used will only eventually go into the hands of its workers who were involved in the project. Those projects have given employment to thousands of workers in UP - mostly the sculptors would have otherwise been at the mercy of the Hindus and their festivals for earning any bread by making small time statues for them. These workers have benefited a lot because of the statues built by Mayawati. So, it is wrong and in fact immoral to say that the money has been wasted. Mayawati didn’t deposit these crores of money in her bank account, but only created a scheme to benefit both the workers of the project and the general BSP supporters who voted her.

Secondly, there is another important issue that should be considered. The Indians are in general not considered a people who care about their environment and its beautification. It is obvious to any foreigner that comes to India, how dirty and unorganized the neighbourhoods are. Beautification of cities is actually a very important thing in modern societies. These beautification projects of Mayawati did not go in vain at all. At least now the place looks much better.

However, as much as I believe that Indians do not really like or are interested in such projects of beautification of the cities, I also believe that it is not completely true. Indians would have loved beautification and statues. It is obvious. Its in our history. The only contention is the subject of those statues. Since in this case the statue happens to be that of Dalit leaders, the Brahmanical Indians and its media are having a grudge against it. If it was some statue of their gods or Brahmin leaders, then no one would have raised a single voice at all, and would have rather appreciated it. For example, the Maharashtra government had shown interest in building a statue of Shivaji just like the Statue of Liberty; and to this, the masses had applauded without looking at the budget and costs (which would have been much larger than Mayawati’s).

So, in other words, the main media rhetoric about Mayawati’s statues is nothing but caste-ism in the modern form. They simply cannot stand the statue of the leaders or some particular members of India society against whom they have hatred in their blood.

@ Cynthia

>>>> Anoop: Bada gandha “poem” hai bhai! :)! better to leave poetry to others! <<<<

Cynthia you are heartless critic… This is post post-modern stuff

I wonder how some of you people can support this. Spending crores of public money on useless statues !! And going on to defend her stupidity!! This is not about caste !! Please remove your blinkers sometimes.
The explanation she gave is preposterous! She said that the statues of her were not an exercise in ego feeding as the majority of Indians thought, but a national necessity, as the people of the state of Uttar Pradesh and the rest of the country should know how much her subjects love her and her achievements.
‘fallenmonk’ , unlike what you say .. there has been a huge debate over the Shivaji Statue in Mumbai. The Loksatta editor’s home was attacked when he questioned the need of the statue like a lot of others.
I wonder if you have thought of the poor , uneducated Dalit who gets no benefit from this !! 1000 crores could have built homes worth 1 lakh for 1 lakh families !! Or perhaps loans of 1 lakh rupees for 1 lakh families !! Whew …

Samuel,

your insistence that the spending is ‘her stupidity’ is a dead-end. Don’t you realise you can only argue the utility/significance of the statues/memorials/1000 crores only when you admit that’s not true?

Prabin,

I thought you were arguing that this is not her stupidity !! So give us good reasons that this is the best way that she could have spent the money.

I wonder - if you had no food to eat and no clothes to wear , how would you appreciate the statues ?

I thought you were arguing that this is not her stupidity !! So give us good reasons that this is the best way that she could have spent the money.

My post and my response to Rashmi.

Accountability goes against an Indian politician’s moral code. Did Mayati promise the people who voted for her party to build these worthless statues of elephants and herself ?

There is no doubt in my mind that spending over Rs 1000 crores on statues was irresponsible when UP has the largest population — 59 million — of people below the poverty line. And when UP has the dubious distinction of having the lowest literacy rate of 56.27%, the highest maternal and neo-natal mortality rate, largest child labour force, largest number of people living below the poverty line and only 59% of villages electrified.

Compare this to Maharastra where the sea link was unveiled recently (1650cr). She is not doing anything to bring investments to the state. UP does not have any jobs for its students but it has ensured that the state becomes an old age home with children moving to other states for employment. And this when in recent times, unemployed youth coming to cities like Mumbai have got beaten up by local thugs. In Mumbai, they live in the most pathetic conditions but with no hope in UP, where would they rather go ?

Prabin, you obviously can afford your own health and food expenditures and are not living in UP. So, you have no issues with Mayawati’s statues and her politics.

The media in the past few weeks or rather months now has been spending its maximum energy towards one specific topic, which has although for long been its favourite target the popularly elected Bahujan Samaj Party run government in India’s largest (population wise) state – Uttar Pradesh and the party leader and the 4th time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, miss Mayawati. the media it must be recalled was never fair to this leader or the party and this has been proven at not one but many instances, the reason might well be that the so called “intellectuals” that the media people liked to be known as do not like to see a person from the very bottom section of the society and that too a women to rise to such high standards of public fame and has become the icon of crores of Indians.

The media with other “intellectuals” from various other political parties for the past 2 years of the Mayawati government have not let even the minutest of incidents occurring in Uttar Pradesh pass without bashing the state government and the chief minister for it , but what must be noted at this point is that the same media chooses to look away from bigger issues that seem to take place in the other states , this action of media is pretty obvious and points out the UP chief minister is singled out because she does not believe in giving special benefits to people related to media as otherwise are showered upon them by governments at centre and other states.

The media’s latest punching bag is the construction of the various memorials dedicated the dalit icons who have worked for the upliftment of the most backward people of the country. The media and its friends across all political parties do not want these memorials to be built and thus the syndicate of political parties and media together launched a campaign against the building of memorials of various dalit icons in Lucknow and Noida. The political parties have through their friends in legal field have taken the matter to the hon’ble supreme court where it is subjudice, the media in order to please its political friends and also due to its personal enmity with the representative of the dalits started a campaign against the government and the construction by showing continuous false reports about the excess expenditure over the construction of dalit memorials , saying that the government had failed on its pre election mandates and now making parks for self glorification , something which is extremely preposterous and as far fetched from reality as possibly can be. The cost of building these monuments going by the media reports which interestingly changed almost everyday is around 2600 crore rupees , this is the total sum according to the media itself being spent by the government of Uttar Pradesh for making memorials of people who dedicated their entire lives towards upliftment of people who had lived their lives in the most down trodden conditions for thousands of years , the statues of people who continue to inspire crores of down trodden dalits to fight against all odds to reach a respectable position in life . the media in its efforts has shown its insensitivity towards the crores of dalits across the country .

The media often shows in its reports that the building of monuments is a risk to the environment due to cutting down of tress and thus trying to show this state government as one which is against the environment , but what the media does conveniently miss out is that this is the same government that planted 10 Million saplings in a day in 2007 , and that the government is making an ecological park in the heart of Lucknow city which is the first in the state , and has in the pervious month created 500 acres of green belt in Lucknow, the government has undertaken special aforestation programe in the Bundelkhand region of the state something which media is pleased to forget easily .

The media and its politician friends have left no stone unturned in criticisng the state government against the installation of statues but have never shown to people the marvelous change that these constructions have brought to infrastructure and skyline of Lucknow which has been completely transformed into a beautiful city after the completion of the monuments, which are a treat to the eyes, the media has never ever appreciated the beautiful architecture of the monuments and has also conveniently ignored that the monuments construction had also helped providing employment to thousands of workers too!

An another important incidence that has completely exposed the bias nature of media is the recent announcement of the Maharashtra government to install a statue of Shivaji in Arabian sea on the coast of Mumbai , building of this statue would cost the state of Maharashtra thousands of crores , but the media has not launched any campaign against the state government or Congress the ruling party of that state , whereas Maharashtra too like Uttar Pradesh has been reeling under financial crisis and has faced incessant droughts , the question to be asked here are why the ruling party has suddenly just a month before the general elections in the state realized the importance of Shivaji ? A few days ago in an interview with a friendly news channel a congress spokesperson defended the state government by saying that Shivaji was a great leader, agreed ! But do they then oppose the building of monuments of dalit leaders like Dr.Ambedkar because they do not think of them as great leaders of the nation? This statement has exposed completely the hatred of the party as well as media towards the dalits of this country. A question which an unbiased media should have asked those who are opposing the building monuments

Staying on the topic of memorials of the dalit icons and their importance in lives of the people for whom they are being made for, there is a simple sense of lack of understanding on media’s side towards the sentiments of crores of dalits who now see the mockery being made of their supremely respected and worshipped leaders being made by the people who have for hundreds of years exploited them. the media has to understand that the memorials might be just a prop for them to use against the BSP leader but for common dalits these memorials are their temples , a place where they will come from far off places and stare proudly and fearlessly at statues of their idols and worship them and take inspiration from them , for crores of people who were and in some cases still not allowed to use even the by-lanes of their villages to be able to go to these magnificent structures of the idols of their caste would bring them happiness and pride which maybe the insensitive media might never understand , the opposition parties who since their inception have been anti dalit are proving their hatred against dalits by opposing the installation of statues of dalit icons whereas they get every other institution, monument, policy , infrastructure project in the country named just after one family , something towards which the media has turned a blind eye altogether !

The opposition parties have raised a question against the building of the monuments stating the poor economic condition of the state , but can the economy of a state as big as Uttar Pradesh which was under economic crisis since decades ( was in worst ever state in 2007 under the previous govt.) be improved by 2600 crore rupees ? the BSP leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister in her very first visit to Delhi after taking oath as the chief minister of UP for 4th time paid a visit to the prime minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh asking him for a special relief package of rupees 80 thousand crore for solving the financial crisis of the state and also to undertake special infrastructural development package for the state it also asked extra financial help for the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh which due to bad policy of previous government in the state and due to the problem of drought become an extremely backward area, this was also the area from where the BSP had got maximum of its MLA’s so the chief minister in her very first meeting asked for a special relief package for the region, the prime minister had assured that he will give the required help to the UP government , but till date not a single rupee has been given to the state government from the 80thousand crore demanded , this despite repeated requests by the state government and personal reminders by chief minister herself.

The central government now wishes to form a centrally empowered committee to look after the development of Bundelkhand region , the move apart from being unconstitutional, is a sad insensitive effort by the ruling party and leaders to play politics with the condition of poverty and making a mockery of the real issues being faced by the people of that region ,when the same government is not ready to give any financial support to government of that state for the past 2 years and have not even given a proper drought relief package for that region even after repeated request , what do they try to achieve by trying to control the part of state themselves, another important question that arises here is that why is there no proposal for such a central agency for the Vidharba region which is equally affected by drought and backwardness and where maximum number of farmer suicide cases have taken place ?? .the media which is so intellectual misses these points completely, obvious again for their own convenience

The media has projected that the only step taken by the state government towards the upliftment of the dalits is by making statues for them, which again is preposterous and the state government has in the first 2 years of its term earmarked more than 12000 crore towards welfare schemes for amelioration of the sc/st’s of the state
The state government after its formation realized the poor power condtion in the state was the biggest roadblock in the development of the state , thus had requested the central government to give enough power to Uttar Pradesh as it demands being the biggest state in terms of population but the centre did not undertake any such action , something the media again chose not to mention , the state government then decided to gather money from its already limited finances to improve the power situation on the state the media for intentions better known to them and their friends in the other political parties have never really stressed on these issues while bashing the Uttar Pradesh chief minister .
The Uttar Pradesh’s BSP government has undertaken some projects to change the falling infrastructure of the state , city wise development programmes are being implemented in major cities of the state something which no previous government had ever tried before.
BSP during elections had promised better roads in the state and after formation of its government it has spent a large sum on improvement of roads in the state and also on improving the transportation facilities in the state .something which is easily visible while traveling in the state , yet the media likes to ignore this and other schemes of UP government like to open one of its only kind of university for differentially able people in Lucknow which unfortunately does do not attract much attention of the “intellectual “media , for whom the only activity that the government is doing is to make statues .

The media has to understand the fact that although it might be able to appease its friend in Delhi with its biased and unfair reporting, but in this effort they have lost whatever little credibility they had held in the eyes of the poor dalits ,whom the media and opposition parties have both used a prop for the their own petty benefits .

For the BSP leader its not the first time that she is in the eye of the storm, she unlike the other dynastical political leaders in the country today has risen from the very bottom and has seen all sorts of accusations but every time people have tried to put bad name on her it is her supporters that have responded on her behalf in such a manner that her popularity has grown several folds. She is to all dalits of this county an inspiration and to most a living goddess who is fighting alone for their benefits and has today reached a position where she can get the statues of their ancestors made in the heart of India ! .
The BSP leader has dedicated her life to upliftment of the most backward people in the country and whenever the nexus of media and opposition parties undertake well coordinated attempts to show her in bad light so as to harm her image amongst the millions of poor who worship her they find themselves helping her grow out as even a bigger and more popular mass leader.