There was a story about the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Mayawati Kumari, on NPR a couple of days ago. Mayawati’s party is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a primarily lower caste (BC, SC, ST) party, and Mayawati was the first Dalit woman to be Chief Minister of an Indian state. Though her earlier political campaigns were full of vitriol against the upper castes, her decisive victory in state elections in May 2007 occurred partly because she’s now branched out to work with upper castes (she’s said she now favors reservations based on income level, not just caste). Mayawati is also branching out geographically, to try and bring her party to power in upcoming elections in neighboring Madhya Pradesh, and she’s begun saying publicly that her real aspiration is to hold power at the Centre — to become, in other words, the next Prime Minister.
Impressive, right? Well, not so fast. Mayawati is also flagrantly, unapologetically corrupt, and the prospect of her coming to power is also rather frightening, once you start to look more closely. Here, for instance, are some bits from the BBC:
Before the elections last year, she declared she had assets worth $13.7m. Last month, she paid $3.9m in advance taxes. Before the close of the financial year, she’s expected to pay $1.3m more.
Her ever-growing wealth, explained by her officials as “gifts” from her doting supporters, has failed to convince many.
And she has often been caught up in allegations of corruption. During her earlier stint as chief minister, she was accused of approving a project to build a massive shopping complex near the Taj Mahal in violation of laws protecting the famous monument. She has denied any wrongdoing. (link)
On the other hand, it’s not like the Samajwadi Party wasn’t corrupt. It’s just that Mayawati takes it to a new level, and seems to be especially fond of the bling bling:
Mayawati has a special fondness for mega birthday parties and she has been criticised by the media for cutting huge cakes while laden with expensive diamond jewellery.
But, Mr Pradhan says her core audiences appreciate her diamonds.
“Her diamonds are a message of hope to her supporters. It’s like she’s telling them – look today I am here. Yesterday I was like you. If I can get it, so can you. They feel very proud of the fact that she is one of them.” (link)
Yeah, I think I’ve heard that one before: “I’m corrupt and extravagant, because my followers demand it of me.” (No, actually, let’s start with adequate housing, clean water, and jobs.)
And finally, there’s the statues:
Ms Mayawati is also known for her obsession with statues – of past Dalit leaders and also her own. Lucknow’s best-known statue maker Shraavan Prajapati has made seven statues – big and small – of Mayawati.
On being challenged, a senior government official close to Mayawati counters with a question of his own: “How come no one objects when memorials are built for Mahatma Gandhi? Or when the Congress Party puts up statues of members of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty?” (link)
The more I read about Mayawati, the more I think, “hm, maybe the Nehru family isn’t so bad after all. How old is Rahul, again?”
i saw the report earlier via UB. corruption and desire are fine. This made me do a double take – she’s supposedly the richest woman in india! that’s saying a lot.
Mix one part Lalu w/ one part Jayalalitha. Let it fester for a few years.
Here’s the NPR link shlok posted on Ultrabrown
NPR just did a piece on her and her lavish taste. It’s disturbing that people use ethnic/caste divides to make themselves rich and powerful though it happens everywhere. It just happens to be more obvious in 3rd world/poor countires like India and Kenya.
Is she wearing socks with her chappals? That is worse than socks + tevas.
Is she wearing socks with her chappals? That is worse than socks + tevas.
That is very common practice in vast portions of north India during winter, as lack of central heating, makes people make wear all sorts of things together.
6 · Kush Tandon said
Fascinating. Didn’t know. Thanks, Kush.
5 · Pondatti said
sneakers arent that popular in india as casual footwear and (I believE) shoes or boots are considered too ugly and ungainly to be typically worn by women, outside of dailywages workers at construction sites.
through winter most people, and especially women, wear thermal stockings that have a crevice between the big toe and the second toe so they can wear these with chappals. out here, people have t protect against snow and slush. not so in winter in northern india where the precipitation is low in this season. reg. socks with tevas – not a bad idea because algoretex insulates both ways, if your feet get wet (snow gets in from top of the boot) there is no way to gain warmth. in our next lecture we shall discuss the impact of shaving legs on body warmth .
5 · Pondatti said
Actually, couldn’t those also be stockings? They seem awfully snug, and, what’s the word, buff (or tan?) in color.
I always found the crevice in the stockings between the big toe and the second toe to be unsightly. In addition, it leaves the big toe physically isolated from its brethren, making it less efficient from a thermal insulation perspective.
I read somewhere that Mayawati is one of highest paid income tax payer, her income for last year was in excess of Rs50 crore, mostly from gifts!
Mahamaya Nagar
I for one promote the use of socks with slippers, I hate feet and the more that are covered up the better.
Great story, Kaka!
dude, you have to exhibit grace & civility to go along with corruption. making venality look classless….
no more corrupt than the key members of the republican administration. With all the contracts that Halliburton Blackwater are getting, dont tell me that this is not corruption. Campaign donations is nothing but corruption in a different name. Corruption in India is more in your face and hence the distaste. Further, the main trouble with corruption in India is the grass eating and meat eating nature of the beast not like the Western world where corruption is mostly of the meat eating variety. Try being a housing developer without greasing palms. The key difference between Jayalalitha and Mayawati is that Jayalalitha makes her moolah from economic growth. Do you know that a major stadium in Chennai was built in 10 months and that includes pulling down an existing stadium. Pretty amazing anywhere in the world. Of course she had an X% cut from project. As the French say ‘behind every great fortune lies a great crime’
KH, do you read his stuff? Know a place to get a collection in the US?
pwned.
I’m saddened but not surprised to hear about Mayawati’s corruption. When I visited India last year the BSP victory was the big news, and it definitely seemed like a great thing to me at the time. But of course, there’s no room for such naivete in politics.
Mayawati’s mentor Kanshiram was equally corrupt if not more. There was news during her first stint in office that she used to charge INR 1 crore to meet people and these donations are what have translated into the massive fortune she has. Unfortunately all UP political parties including BJP, SP, BSP and Congress are equally corrupt, the only difference is that BJP and Congress have been out of power for a long time in UP.
ok i cant stay away for the moment. sorry for the profanity earlier. i’m not too sure about this lady, but i am grossly misinformed & ignorant sooooo…i will reserve judgment.
but please, define grace, civility, and class for me. i am clueless 🙂
and make no mistake, corruption is in your face everywhere. reactionary is a funny word
okay i must go create callouses now
ok i cant stay away for the moment. sorry for the profanity earlier. i’m not too sure about this lady, but i am grossly misinformed & ignorant sooooo…i will reserve judgment.
but please, define grace, civility, and class for me. i am clueless 🙂
and make no mistake, corruption is in your face everywhere. reactionary is a funny word
portmanteau,
I will let KH respond, but check this link, they seem to have a good collection of Kaka’s books. I remember watching him on Kavi Samelans on Doorshan growing up.
17 · portmanteau said
No, sorry.
Mayawati is also flagrantly, unapologetically corrupt, and the prospect of her coming to power is also rather frightening, once you start to look more closely.
No, the Republicans are nowhere as corrupt as Mayawati. There is no evidence of Halliburton offering bribes and kickbacks to Republican politicians. Of course there are corrupt politicians in the US but the corruption is not even comparable to the level of corruption in India. Duke Cunningham, Jefferson and Tom Delay are model politicians compared to 3rd world politicians.
Also campaign donations are strictly monitored. In India politicians spend millions on elections and file for reports which show that they spent in thousands. Every dollar spent is accounted for in the US Elections.
Pagal_Aadmi (#24), thanks for saying it. These people who immediately try to frame a U.S. counterpoint to anything bad ever said about India, need a good kick in the ass sometimes. Some things are just not comparable…not by MANY orders of magnitude.
This is one thing about Indian democracy that gets to me. Unfortunately, that’s how democracy works. The states of UP and Bihar are some of the most backward in most benchmarks – education, primary health, economic development, etc etc. Aptly named beemaru (sick) states. But they are some of the most populous too. And when it comes to population replacement indices, they are near 4 while some of the more progressive states are close to 2 or under 2. What does this mean, over time the population of these states will dominate India even more. Thus these states are some of the most important ones politically in the country and we have started seeing corrupt jokers like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh and Laloo talking about PM aspirations. A lot of this is because of the number of seats allocated to these states, which these regional parties win based on their caste etc politics, and then support the Govt. at the center and command power. Basically populist, pandering corrupt jokers have the most power and thus shall rule the country.
Completely unrelated but can we cover this on SM – the news about jokers like the Thackreys in Maharashtra attacking and threatening North Indians in Maharashtra. Such segragationary politics has the potential to affect the fabric of the country itself, just when we are starting to see the India of a united India undivided due to linguistic reasons becoming more and more common.
to see the idea of a united India undivided
Really.. what makes you say that. Transparency International – ( whose definition of corruption is childish. Read my earlier note on corruption being more sophisticated in the western world. Campaign donations provides access – gifts to Mayawati provides the same access.
Lack of evidence means nothing. If we use evidence as the basis for comment – where is the evidence that politicians in India are more corrupt than the ones in India. Newspaper reports are not evidence….. Halliburton won all those contracts without corruption – yeah right.
Do you seriously expect me to believe that Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton or Paul Keating are paragons of virtue. Last time I checked the Clintons were involved in quite a few corruption scandals including amnesty for cash. These statements seem to indicate that you have not worked with politicians either in India or in the western world and I dont mean working on campaigns. Pollies all over the world are pretty much the same. Campaign donations are not checked in India ? – I think they are – I may be wrong. The trouble with Indian corruption is not the Maywatis – it is the average bureacrat. Hence it seems to be a lot more. As someone who has seen corruption (both meat and grass) up close far more than most SM commenters, it really annoys me when blanket statements with limited understanding of corruption in India are made. Hence the rather viscereal reaction. I agree that Corruption is not even comparable in the grass space but in the meat space there are no different.
Meat eaters refers to the persons higher up in the food chain while grass eaters is the ones lower in the food chain. So a constable harassing you is grass eating corruption while a MP needing a campaign donation to approve a development is meat eating. If you really want to learn about meat eating corruption try doing a multi-storey development in a major city in India and try one in a major city in the western world. the players may be different but the game is the same. Last comment
Mayawati may have aspirations of becoming PM but it is not going to happen anytime soon. From the fallout of N-Deal and the overall lack of any principles of the Congress lead coalition and general rule of thumb anti-incumbency is going to cause the BJP has higher chances to come to power. If that happens LK Advani will be the PM. Last week Indian intelligence agencies warned LK Advani about him being on the top of the hitlist of ISI backed militants in India. It will be interesting political season in India next year.
It is quite possible that Mayawati can attain the PM post next time. But for that I think BSP needs to get atleast 50 MP seats. Corruption, I think is not a big deal for Indian voters. It is not as if the other party is not corrupt. There is no alternative right now. Atleast, after a few years the opponent party men gets the road contracts instead of just one party dominating, there is a sharing of wealth.
There needs to be clear cut laws on campaign financing and auditing of the political parties and finances in India followed by strict “law enforcement” to have any hope.
If you really want to learn about meat eating corruption try doing a multi-storey development in a major city in India and try one in a major city in the western world. the players may be different but the game is the same. Last comment
No its not the same. I know builders in India and you have to bribe government officials at every stage. Its not even comparable to dealing with code enforcement in the US. I cant believe that you really dont see any difference between the US and India.
Ambedkar Park, Lucknow http://www.pbase.com/jaris/image/55037924
Crores were spent on this park, and almost nothing on the the development of the state.
Forgot to mention that this project was Mayawati’s signature project, in order to celebrate her win in U.P.
No its not the same. I know builders in India and you have to bribe government officials at every stage. Its not even comparable to dealing with code enforcement in the US. I cant believe that you really dont see any difference between the US and India.
Dude, you got to kidding me.
Al_mujahid, sure, corruption in developing countries in India is very rampant, unsophisticated, in your face. It is just the nature of the society, and tug of war for resources, and money. It is the way, it is. Even a blind man will tell you, close, but no cigar.
Sure, in US of A, small stakes corruption is not played, or is it even considered worthwhile. A common man for most part is not affected by it. When or how it is played, it is very high stakes, and when it is done, it is in a very sophisticated way.
Let me tell you some high stakes corruption here in your backyard that would look rest of the world like child’s play. Let’s start with historical examples:
a) Now let’s start with JFK Sr ……his involvement in Wall Street crash, and close proximity to the US power structure.
b) The entire monopolization by the robber barons, led by no one else than Nelson Rockefeller.
c) Prohibition.
d) The early Mafia, Nosa Costras stole money ear-marked for widows, in full cooperation with politicians.
e) Governments overthrown, like Chile raised prices of metals that was monopolized by ITT (an American multinational). Governments overthrown and puppets installed in Middle East because they challenged American business interests, starting with Shah of Iran being installed in 1950s. The entire sugar cane, mafia politics, money laundering of American dollar in Cuba in pre-Castro days.
f) Watergate
g) Irangate
h) Funding of proxy wars in South America, and close proximity of American business interest.
……..wagehera, wagehera.
Now lets come to present. ONE WORD: Iraq (where should I start from, should we start with no-bids contracts, balkanization of Iraq roughly based on oil reserves, dude, we are talking billions of dollars here, significant portion of India’s wealth). You are telling me no one is getting rich from all this blood money.
And you talked about transparency in electoral politics money, have we all been smoking something – where did PAC, 327 groups (or whatever number they are called these days).
It is almost naive to think the biggest economy of the world, a trillion dollar economy, now a lone super power with a real strong will be squeaky clean.
Oh I forgot, wasn’t there a Louisiana Congressman last year busted with $50,000 cash in his freezer.
Oh I forgot, how could I : Enron, a veritable American institution
and Ken Lay, who was Kennie Boy for the powerful on the Hill.
I meant: Now let’s start with JPK Sr (Joseph P. Kennedy Sr)…………
Kush, you’re right…but day to day, there is little to no corruption in ordinary, mundane life here in America…which is a HUGE difference compared to India.
portmanteau
Collection of Poems by Kaka Hathrasi (in Devnagiri) :
http://hi.literature.wikia.com/wiki/%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE_%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%80
again
link
34 · Kush Tandon said
kush: joe made a fortune shorting the market on inside info during the crash. but it was not illegal at the time nor is trading on inside info intuitively wrong…after all if you know something others don’t why not act on it? hardly constitutes corruption, though the experience later made him a great SEC chairman, since he knew all the tricks. He did however make another fortune as a bootlegger during prohibition (though that’s not intuitively wrong either but at least illegal) and once set up an owner of a chain of movie theatres on false rape charges (he hired prostitute to claim rape and at the time, strangely, one could not ask a rape victim about their sexual past) so he could buy his theatres on the cheap. he also helped set up the new deal b/c he knew a mixed economy was easier to corrupt, but by then he was already really wealthy and what he was really after was power.
politicians like this lady, jaylalitha, karunadi, karunakaran, bachans pals and countless others should all have [DO NOT THREATEN POLITICAL FIGURES WITH BODILY HARM! — SM INTERN].
corruption in india is on a completely different level and quicker it is brought under semi control, faster india will progress.
there is no question campaign reform is needed asap in the us, but at least the common man knows there are strong institutions like the courts, numerous law enforcement agencies who will eventually root out the cancer.
only way India will truly be a democracy is when the a strong law enforcement regime can bring these corrupt politicians and oligarchs under control.
These types of corrupt politicians are keeping true entereprenuership / enterprise from developing in India.
Amitabh,
I am not trying to downplay the corruption in India, which as others have noted is in your face, but to address the magnitude, America is number 20 in the 2006 corruption perception index and India is number 72. If you see the numbers from 2002-2007, the numbers for India are becoming better and those for US are deteriorating, I have not gone into detail on the construction of this index and may be people more familiar can educate us. I acknowledge that India has a long way to go but the work is being done. If you read the papers in India and travel often, you will see that the accountability in public sphere is much better enforced. The right to information act is being used more often than politicians would like and the people are more vocal. During the Raj Thackrey controversy, I was in Bombay and the outrage publicly expressed by Marathi and non Marathi citizens of Bombay was like never before. The party heads of MNS were routinely on TV debates and were routinely derided for their stance (This was unheard of till some years back as Raj was in Shiv Sena and they are notorious for roughing up journalists who spoke against them). This is something I had never seen grown up as people more routinely resigned to their fate back then. It by no means is perfect but the younger generation of India is demanding accountability from elected officials like never before and I for one am very upbeat about the prospects.
I am not kidding you.
I was talking to melbourne desi about corruption for building a multi-floor apartment complex in US v. India. I am presuming you agree with me as you have not really refuted my assertion that the corruption involved in India in undertaking such a project is way more than what the corruption in the US.
Your historical examples take away nothing from the fact that the current US politicians are not as corrupt as the Indian politicians.
34 · Kush Tandon said
But he was released on bail after convincing the judge that since his assets were already frozen, he was hardly a flight risk.
What seems different about Mayawati is she is declaring her assets and paying tax, what is more, advance tax on it. So there are two things you could say:
That this is better than the under-the-table ‘black money’ that umpteen Congresswallahs of all generations were rumored to have been taking, except nobody knew exactly how much, and when they were caught, a furore ensued but nothing much otherwise happened.
Or you could say, things have gotten way too brazen, that’s why Mayawati can declare it, and this is only the tip of the iceberg, there’s much more that goes unaccounted for.
Still, the very thought that a politician could pay taxes on her ‘gifts’ – makes it different for me, with all the above provisos. I remember reading that, in the 70s, Babu Jagjivan Ram had “forgotten” to file his tax returns for ten consecutive years. To his credit, he admitted this in the Lok Sabha, but come on, forgetting things like that, for ten years. And there were far worse things going on, and probably still are.
with me as you have not really refuted my assertion that the corruption involved in India in undertaking such a project is way more than what the corruption in the US.
Sure, a construction project in India will be (and is) more prone to corruption and malpractice than in USA. Per capita impact of corruption on everyman’s life is more in India, as I agreed up front.
But then if Bechtel wants to have a huge construction mega project, they will overthrow the foreign government that comes in their way, and let law makers on the hill here make a legislation beneficial to them at 11:00 PM on the floor. Your historical examples take away nothing from the fact that the current US politicians are not as corrupt as the Indian politicians.
There just more sophisticated in their operations, blatant about it, and are not running after chum change, when you have ITT (that gets help from Justice Department and CIA helping you overthrow governments, and bribe others), Haliburton (that gets billions of dollars of non-bids contracts), 100s of millions of dollars spent by 527 groups together……….then why bother being crass about, obnoxious and fawning about being corrupt.
Are Enron and Iraq really historical examples, and they are tip of the iceberg.
Chachaji,
This is exactly what I was talking about, this kind of thing was unheard of few years back.
I meant: not blatant about it,………..
There just more sophisticated in their operations, blatant about it, and are not running after chum change, when you have ITT (that gets help from Justice Department and CIA helping you overthrow governments, and bribe others), Haliburton (that gets billions of dollars of non-bids contracts), 100s of millions of dollars spent by 527 groups together……….then why bother being crass about, obnoxious and fawning about being corrupt. Are Enron and Iraq really historical examples, and they are tip of the iceberg.
Enron did not bribe any American politician and likewise Iraq has not resulted in the personal enrichment of the US Congress members. The money raised or spent from 527 groups, donations to campaigns, PACs do not go to the pocketS of the American politicians and thats a big difference. In India the bribes go to the personal coffers of the politicians. Money spent on political campaigns does not personally benefit the politicians and that is why you have people like Senator Tom Daschle/Senator Biden who after spending decades in the US Senate in powerful positions have assets comparable to anybody who made the same amount of money in salaries.
Enron did not bribe any American politician and likewise Iraq has not resulted in the personal enrichment of the US Congress members. The money raised or spent from 527 groups, donations to campaigns, PACs do not go to the pocketS of the American politicians and thats a big difference.
Al Mujahid, in all seriousness, is there any thing like “free lunch” in the world. When legislators goes to bat for Bachtel for no-bids contract in 2005 for Iraq over everyone (that includes other American companies too), are they really doing from the goodness of their heart, and for some “goey, goey” feeling.
Sure, the bribes do not go into American politicians direct bank account. It goes through your spouse’s/ son’s/ daughter’s legal (or lobbying) firm (an example white water), stock options to your wife/ husband/ son/ daughter-in-law, funding your daughter’s startup through some obscure channels, a position on the board or million dollar lobbying job after you done with your Senate term (read, John Breaux). When a 527 group raises and spends 12 millions dollars for you to get re-elected, is it really for charity, there is a political capital and payback time underwritten.
PS: This is my last comment on this topic. I am guessing you are suffering from serious naivetitis or or whatever…………..but I am done. Ciao. You may continue………….