States: Uttar Pradesh; Idle Worship

India Today, November 30, 1998
Nov 30, 1998

UTTAR PRADESH
Idle Worship

Kalyan Singh's bid to woo politically influential caste groups by erecting statues of popular leaders is fooling no one. It's only draining the exchequer. Idle Worship

By Farzand Ahmed

If Mayawati can do it, I can do it better. That's what Kalyan Singh seems to have told himself. If the former chief minister spent much of her time and the state's meagre resources setting up parks and erecting statues of B.R. Ambedkar and other Dalit leaders, her successor seems to have gone a step further along the same route. The past month has seen him criss-crossing the state, inaugurating buildings, erecting statues and naming colleges and institutions after well-known leaders, this time cutting across caste groups. Evidently in a hurry to shed his image of being a leader of the backwards and the Lodh-Rajputs, Kalyan is now banking on these icons to win over a spectrum of politically influential groups.

Desperate to woo the Kshatriyas, the chief minister unveiled a 12-ft statue of Maharana Pratap at Hussainganj in Lucknow on November 6. The community leaders were impressed enough to proclaim during the function that the "Kshatriya samaj will not hesitate to shed their blood for Shurveer Kalyan". This was like music to Kalyan's ears. After all, the Thakurs -- 12 per cent of the state's population -- had been looking up to state BJP chief Rajnath Singh, who is backing the dissidents within the party. It was imperative that Kalyan cut into Singh's base.

A week earlier, Kalyan zeroed in on the Pasis in an attempt to make inroads into Mayawati's vote bank. Inaugurating a life-size statue of Veerangana Uda Devi at Sikandarbagh crossing -- Uda Devi had killed 35 British soldiers at the same spot in 1857 -- he exhorted the Pasis to fight for their rights. But far from pledging support for him, Maharaj Bijli Pasi Trust President Poornima Verma cashed in on the opportunity to press for the construction of an auditorium at the Bijli Pasi Fort and the establishment of a college for members of the community. Kalyan agreed to set up the Uda Devi Pasi Government Girls' Inter College at Mall in Malihabad and a Government Pasi Degree college near the fort.

A few weeks earlier, Kalyan named the upcoming international airport at Lucknow's Amousi after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The announcement, made at the first-ever state sponsored function marking the birth anniversary of the "iron man", was meant to overwhelm the backward Kurmis, who view the BJP with suspicion.

Thanks to Kalyan's new campaign, Lucknow will now have statues of Patel, Maharani Avanti Bai, a Lodh-Rajput leader, Bhama Sah, who stood for the Backwards, and Rabindranath Tagore (to appease the upper caste Bengalis). Also planned are hospitals in the names of Thakur warrior Maharani Laxmibai and a park after Maharana Pratap. In Unnao, a statue of Rao Bux Singh will be installed again for the benefit of the Thakurs.

That the main purpose of Kalyan's campaign is to woo the various caste groups is not lost even on his own colleagues. At the unveiling of the statue of Maharana Pratap, for instance, Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon pointedly looked at Kalyan and said, "Maharana Pratap's fight was for swabhiman (respect), not power. We should not try to confine great men to a caste frame." Adds Rajesh Pandey, BJP MLC: "The chief minister should be careful not to create the impression that the BJP is pursuing a casteist line."

The party's central leadership too is wary of Kalyan's new obsession. Addressing the valedictory function of the BJP's state executive meeting, Union Home Minister L.K. Advani said there was no scope for "personalised politics" in the party.

According to party sources, Kalyan launched the campaign to woo various caste groups in the fear that the Brahmins, who constitute 10 per cent of the state's population, would turn their back on him. Discontent in the upper caste community began to simmer with the election of the party's state unit president. Om Prakash Tripathy, now vice-president, was pressured to withdraw his nomination in favour of Singh, a Thakur. What followed next was the sidelining of Public Works Minister Kalraj Mishra, another heavyweight Brahmin.Then came Kalyan's declaration that stern action would be taken against those ministers -- a majority of them were Brahmins -- found to have close links with the slain don Shri Prakash Shukla.

Playing the caste card is nothing new to Indian politics. But if Kalyan believes that by erecting statues and buildings in its name he can make a mark, he is mistaken. The only mark they can leave is on the exchequer.

Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication