Mayawati, the "untouchable", tilts at the top in India (News Feature)

By Sunrita Sen Jul 25, 2008, 2:08 GMT

New Delhi - A week of fractious politics in India surrounding a trust motion saw Prime Minister Manmohan Singh survive, but it also heralded the arrival of a new prime ministerial candidate - Mayawati, 52, leader of the Dalit community and chief minister of populous northern Uttar Pradesh state.

While parliament debated the motion on whether Singh's government was right in going ahead with a controversial nuclear deal with the United States, Mayawati, whose Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has a paltry 17 members of parliament, successfully rallied together the left parties and a range of regional leaders to launch a new alliance and prop her as a prospective prime minister.

Mayawati is a symbol of empowerment for 160 million Dalits or former untouchables who fall below the lowest rung of India's ancient caste system.

Everything she did was symbolic, including addressing the media in the Indian capital while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani gave his speech in parliament.

Becoming prime minister of India is not an ambition that has come new to Mayawati. Soon after sweeping to power in state elections in Uttar Pradesh with an absolute majority in 2007, she said: 'The road to Delhi is clear.'

Political analysts say that her party, still on a honeymoon in Uttar Pradesh, is sure to increase its numbers in parliament in the next general election, due in 2009, with a huge votebank of Dalits looking for empowerment as India moves forward on the economic front.

Dalits form about 16 per cent of the country's 1.1 billion population. Not all vote on caste considerations, but having Mayawati as a leader does make a difference.

A bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh, who did not want to be named, put it like this: 'She may not have achieved much for Dalits on the ground in her past two terms as chief minister, but when she is in power, district officials, police, everyone treats Dalits with more respect.'

Only a small percentage of Dalits in India have posts of power or affluence. The vast majority, despite decades of affirmative action in their favour, still toil as manual labourers, sweepers, scavengers and face discrimination borne of caste bias that refuses to go away.

For them Mayawati, who has risen to her position by dint of education and politics, is the very symbol of what can be achieved - of limitless possibilities.

Mayawati grew up in a squalid quarter of Delhi, one of eight siblings, and faced discrimination as a girl child at home and as a Dalit outside.

But she became a lawyer, a teacher, then a politician of the BSP under the leadership of her mentor the late Kanshi Ram, who was the founder and driving force of a party seeking Dalit empowerment.

In the run-up to the 2007 Uttar Pradesh elections, Mayawati expanded the base of her party to include upper caste Brahmins and Muslims and came up trumps.

Her party has 28 Muslim legislators and 52 upper caste Bramhins. Her battle in Uttar Pradesh is with the other backward castes which have cornered power for years now.

The regional parties, including some from southern India, that rallied to Mayawati earlier this week, are hoping her Dalit votebank will garner them that extra 2 to 4 per cent votes that can swing seats in the next elections.

Critics say there may be pitfalls along the way with India's federal investigation agencies probing several corruption cases against the BSP leader who has allegedly amassed a huge fortune.

Mayawati says her wealth has come mostly as gifts from partymen and well-wishers on occasions like her birthday which is celebrated as swabhimaan divas or the day of self esteem by the BSP.

Journalist Ajoy Bose, who recently published a biography of the leader, says her constituency likes seeing her in silks and diamonds. Mayawati has been quoted as saying people point a finger at her because she is a Dalit and has money.

Corruption is not a major issue specially in Uttar Pradesh, says Lucknow-based political scientist AK Verma. Besides, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister is known as someone who gets things done though in a somewhat autocratic fashion.

She is not surrounded by family like so many Indian politicians, and she keeps the media at a distance.

But Mayawati presented her very best to the media in the national capital over the past few days as she called press briefings to make statements on issues of national and international import to bolster her image of prime minister that would be.

Maya translates as magic or powers of illusion in Hindi. India's Dalits and her new-found political supporters are hoping Mayawati will wield her magic in the 2009 elections.