New Delhi: A forensic laboratory has allegedly established that videotapes which showed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi making hate speeches in Pilibhit were not doctored.

The Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad on Saturday submitted a report to the district magistrate of Pilibhit, saying it was Varun's voice in the tapes which showed him making speeches in Desh Nagar on March 7 and Pilibhit on March 8.

Varun, who was out on bail for the hate speeches, has always claimed that the tapes were doctored to defame him. As many as six police complaints have been filed against him in Pilibhit for the hate speeches.

Varun’s mother, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, rejected the forensic report and claimed it was a “one-sided version” and the “entire tape is doctored”

“The entire tape is doctored, words have been interchanged… the forensic report is a one-sided version,” Maneka, MP from Aonla in Uttar Pradesh, told journalists on Sunday.

Maneka defended her son at the BJP’s national executive in New Delhi on Saturday, claiming certain party leaders wanted to make him the scapegoat for the party’s election defeat in Uttar Pradesh.

She alleged that the true reasons for the party's defeat was not being examined honestly and it had selected the wrong candidates in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at the party’s office bearers meeting on Friday openly criticized the party for not rejecting Varun and claimed his speeches cost them the elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Atiq Khan

“Internal alliance” of Congress, BJP and SP did us in: Mayawati

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Opposition following “casteist” agenda
Congress, BJP and SP wary of my becoming Prime Minister: Mayawati

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LUCKNOW: In a bid to thwart the Congress’ plan to make inroads into the support base of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday said the support of the upper castes and Muslims would be enlisted through cadre camps and public meetings.
She said this might even take several years, but the Opposition’s tactics of “divide and rule” would not be allowed to succeed.
Ms. Mayawati claimed that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BSP was done in by the “internal alliance” among the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party.
“These parties were wary that if she were to become the Prime Minister she would wield power for several years,” the BSP president said at a rally at the Collectorate here to kick off the countrywide campaign against casteism. She claimed that the BJP and the SP, in particular, feared that if a Dalit ki beti (daughter of a Dalit) were to become Prime Minister it would not be good for the country.
Condemning the “casteist” agenda of the Congress, the BJP and the SP, the BSP supremo exhorted the party cadres to foster brotherhood of the sarv samaj, break the caste barrier and pave the way for the formation of a BSP government at the Centre.
Stating that the beginning to this effect had been made from Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Mayawati counselled her party cadres that in their conduct too they must not display a casteist streak.
The Chief Minister said brotherhood formed part of the party’s core philosophy. Earlier too, the BSP had become a victim of caste politics when the Opposition parties united to prevent her from becoming the Prime Minister during last year’s trust vote on nuclear deal.
On the Dalit issue, she attacked the Janata Party for denying Jagjivan Ram the Prime Minister’s post in 1977 and opting for Morarji Desai.
The Chief Minister clarified that the BSP’s programme had nothing to do with Mr. Gandhi’s birthday, which was being celebrated on June 19. On this day in 1995, she entered the Vidhan Sabha for the first time as Chief Minister, Ms. Mayawati said.

VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN Meira Kumar’s selection as Speaker signals that the Congress is keen to strengthen the “accommodative line” of Dalit politics. RAJEEV BHATT Meira Kumar with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on their way to the joint session of Parliament, which the President addressed on June 4. THE unanimous election of Meira Kumar as the country’s first Dalit and woman Lok Sabha Speaker is widely evaluated as a signal emphasising the seriousness with which the ruling Congress and other sections of the country’s polity hold the idea of empowerment of underprivileged sections such as the Scheduled Castes (S.C.) and women. While this evaluation is indeed valid, Meira Kumar’s elevation does contain a more nuanced political message too. This is a message that Meira Kumar herself has time and again sought to express forcefully during her 25-year-old political career. It is that the politics of Dalit assertion and women’s empowerment should not give in to sectarian impulses but should develop as part of broader trends in mainstream polity. In many ways, this political line marks a continuation of the direction pursued by the legendary Jagjivan Ram, Meira Kumar’s late father, who was part of many governments in independent India, starting with the first Congress Ministry led by Jawaharlal Nehru. This line held sway over the country’s polity for nearly four decades even though many other proponents of the politics of Dalit assertion found this “too soft” and believed that it failed to establish firmly the rights of the underprivileged sections. Since the late 1980s, proponents of the latter view and representatives of Other Backward Classes (OBC)-oriented identity politics began to rise, pushing aside the “accommodative line” of the Congress, represented by Jagjivan Ram and Meira Kumar. Organisations such as the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakthi Party (LJP) grew in strength during this period, and the Meira Kumar line of thinking failed to receive acceptance. Meira Kumar’s elevation to the position of Lok Sabha Speaker after the 2009 general elections is a pointer, in many ways, that the moderate stream in the politics of Dalit uplift is coming into the reckoning, at least among a sizable section of the electorate. The election results signified a rout for the LJP, while the BSP, which had contested the elections projecting party leader Mayawati as the potential first Dalit Prime Minister of the country, failed to live up to expectations. In order to buttress the “first Dalit Prime Minister” claim, Mayawati too had sought to push forward an assimilative political line, which placed Dalit-Brahmin bhaichara (brotherhood) at the centre of its political-electoral scheme. However, as the results proved, this positioning and the scheme under which it was advanced was not acceptable to large sections of the population, including Dalits. It was the assimilative and accommodative line of the Congress that found greater acceptance. By positioning Meira Kumar in the important constitutional position of Speaker, the Congress leadership has also signalled that it is interested in strengthening the “accommodative line” and making it a more decisive factor in Dalit assertive politics. Meira Kumar’s own statements on assumption of office are in keeping with this perception. She said that as the country’s first Dalit and woman Speaker she hoped to bring a new perspective to the functioning of the Lok Sabha, but added that her primary agenda as the presiding officer would not be guided by gender- or community-specific parameters. “The Lok Sabha is the House of the people. The issues of the people have to be addressed in their entirety here. My effort would be to facilitate such wholesome application to the issues of the people” (see interview). At the level of women’s empowerment, the leadership of the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has already affirmed its commitment to one-third reservation for women in Parliament and State legislatures, but it is expecting certain roadblocks. The opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill by OBC-oriented parties such as the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (United) and the political games that the Bharatiya Janata Party may be tempted to play using the regional parties are the factors behind this sense of foreboding. Many observers feel that, with Meira Kumar’s elevation, the Congress-UPA leadership has at least the consolation that it has put a woman in an important constitutional position. THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY Jagjivan Ram, the legendary Dalit leader. He served as a Minister in several Congress governments and also as Deputy Prime Minister. Meira Kumar fits in, broadly, with an accommodative and assimilative political approach at the personal level too. The cosmopolitan traits in her are evident from the number of languages she knows. She is fluent in Hindi, English, Spanish, Bhojpuri and Sanskrit. Her educational qualifications include a degree in law and a postgraduate degree in English. Her success in civil service examinations led to her selection as an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer in 1973. Her tenure with the IFS lasted 12 years and included stints with the Indian missions in Madrid and London and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. Her hobbies range from reading and rereading Kalidasa in Sanskrit to rifle shooting. A five-time member of the Lok Sabha, she won her first election from Bijnore in Uttar Pradesh in 1985, defeating two stalwarts of Dalit politics, Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan. Later, elections were won from Delhi and Sasaram, the constituency in Bihar held by her father for eight consecutive terms. Meira Kumar’s selection as the Speaker also marked, in a sense, the full rehabilitation of the Jagjivan Ram family in the Congress. Though he was part of several Congress governments and had held important portfolios such as Defence, Communications, Labour and Railways, Jagjivan Ram fell out of favour with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Emergency (1975-77). Jagjivan Ram had made bold to quit the Congress, after the announcement of general elections in February 1977, and was instrumental in ensuring the defeat of the Indira Gandhi regime. He became part of the first non-Congress Janata Party government which came up in 1977 under the leadership of Morarji Desai. The government collapsed in less than two years, and Jagjivan Ram’s efforts to rustle up support to become Prime Minister did not succeed. He was disillusioned with the turn of events and, towards the end of his life, made a return to the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi, who became Prime Minister following the death of Indira Gandhi, facilitated this return. It was at this time that Meira Kumar too joined politics and became a Lok Sabha member. Even so, the position accorded to Meira Kumar was not on a par with the position that Jagjivan Ram had as a Dalit leader in the Nehru dispensation. Meira Kumar was one among many Dalit Congress leaders, such as Sushil Kumar Shinde, Krishna Tirath and Kumari Selja. By any yardstick, Shinde was considered to be the frontrunner in this group. However, with the trends witnessed in the 2009 elections, the Congress leadership, particularly Sonia Gandhi, seems to have estimated that Meira Kumar is best suited to represent the party’s commitment to “accommodative and assimilative” Dalit-oriented politics. The Congress president could have of course chosen other politicians, such as Selja and Krishna Tirath, but by selecting Meira Kumar, Sonia Gandhi has signalled to the Jagjivan Ram family that it is back with full honours in the Congress scheme of things. Clearly, the larger messages that emanate from Meira Kumar’s appointment mark a historic shift in the country’s polity. It is a shift which indicates that the progressive streak in the country’s polity is indeed strong. However, it remains to be seen whether, and how far, the nuanced messages of Meira Kumar’s elevation – according importance to assimilative and accommodative Dalit-oriented politics as opposed to sectarian pursuit of Dalit assertive politics – live up to expectations. • Printer friendly page   Send this article to Friends by E-Mail Subscribe | Contact Us | Archives | Contents (Letters to the Editor should carry the full postal address) Home | The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Publications | eBooks | Images Copyright © 2009, Frontline. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Frontline

By Khalid Akhter

New Delhi, June 18 : Two years after its historic victory in Uttar Pradesh riding on a rainbow coalition of the low and high castes, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of Chief Minister Mayawati is caught in a dilemma — whether to continue its inclusive agenda or revert to her core Dalit base.
Credited with giving Dalits - whom she called ‘bahujan’ - their political space, Mayawati in 2007 adopted the new social engineering formula of ’sarvajan’, which included upper castes in her support base. But this inclusive agenda did not seem to work in the 15th Lok Sabha polls when the party managed to win only 20 of the state’s total 80 seats.
“We could not perform as expected. One reason is a palpable feeling of disillusionment among the Dalits as many of them believe they are being neglected, with upper castes and Muslims getting more play,” a Rajya Sabha MP of the BSP told IANS on condition of anonymity. In the BSP, nobody except Mayawati is permitted to discuss such issues in the public domain.
Now the dilemma, he said, was whether to continue with ’sarvajan’ politics or go back to the basics.
Dalits, constituting 21 percent of the state’s population, Muslims, making up 19 percent, and Brahmins, nine percent, had voted in large numbers for the BSP in 2007. Of the BSP’s 203 legislators, 61 are Dalits, 51 Brahmins and 26 Muslims.
But analysts say Mayawati failed to rise above identity politics and deliver on the development front to fulfil Dalit aspirations. And that contributed to the BSP’s Lok Sabha debacle.
“This time there was resentment among the Dalits and it reflected in their flagging enthusiasm to come out and vote as earlier,” political analyst Badri Narayan told IANS.
“After Mayawati came to power, the Dalit voter expected the party to deliver and bring about substantial improvement in their life, but this did not happen,” said Narayan, director of the Dalit Resource Centre at the Allahabad-based Gobind Ballabh Pant Institute of Social Sciences.
In 2007, the entire country was stunned when for the first time in nearly two decades, Uttar Pradesh got single party majority in Mayawati’s BSP, which walked away with 203 of the 403 assembly seats.
However, the magic did not work in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP had expected to notch up 40 to emerge a kingmaker at the centre but won only 20.
A study done by the party revealed that the BSP’s performance in the assembly segments of each parliamentary constituency was also far below expectations.
It also found that the BSP’s vote share also actually went down from 30.4 percent in 2007 to 27 percent in the Lok Sabha elections. Party leaders attributed this to Dalit apathy.
“Mayawati has realised she cannot take her Dalit core for granted. This explains why Dalits are being given preference in the appointments that are now being made in the party for different posts,” said a leader.
This also explains why she has chosen June 19 to launch an “awareness campaign” among Dalits “to tell them that the BSP is their real saviour” even as the Congress has its own plans for the day.
June 19 is Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi’s birthday and his party plans to host ’sahbhog’ or community feasts on the occasion in Dalit-dominated areas where all castes would be invited. Rahul Gandhi is being credited for the Congress’ improvement in Uttar Pradesh from nine seats to 21 seats and many believe the party has eaten into Mayawati’s Dalit vote base.
“In her enthusiasm of inclusive politics to realise her own dream of becoming prime minister, Mayawati forgot the grassroots voter,” said A.K. Verma, who teaches at Christ Church College in Kanpur.
He, however, feels reverting to “the narrow agenda of Dalit politics would be a retrograde step”.
“Mayawati needs to consolidate her base and have a balance between her politics of development of Dalits in a real sense rising above identity politics and taking along other social groups as well.
“Also, she has to curb the extent of corruption which has seen an unprecedented high during her regime.”

NEW DELHI: Soft-voiced, seemingly unfit to instil order in the often chaotic Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar dismisses the criticism that her vocal chords are a handicap. She is confident that she would be heard in the House. The first woman Speaker, also a dalit, says her election has struck a chord with the marginalised.

That Kumar is confident of managing Lok Sabha and projecting herself as a symbol of women and dalit empowerment is good news for Congress which has authored the surprise move.

In a freewheeling interview with TOI, Kumar touches on issues ranging from scepticism of her soft voice to the caste factor.

Q: First, your soft voice and criticism that you cannot manage the House.

A: Women have soft voices. But it has never been a problem for me. I have been in electoral politics for 25 years, where we travel all over, to the interiors. I have campaigned for myself and for others in assembly and parliamentary polls. My voice has always been heard. If it can be heard in my constituency and get me a positive mandate, then why would it not be heard in Lok Sabha.

Q: Too much focus on your soft voice?

A: It's because there have only been men as Speakers. It's a man's reaction, but it's a woman's voice.

Q: You are hailed as a symbol of dalit empowerment.

A: Since I became Speaker, my house has been inundated by ordinary people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra, J&K, Punjab, West Bengal etc. They are ordinary people who have missed 3-4 days of work, lost wages, bought tickets to travel, just to greet me. I think they do feel empowered. I am not in a position to benefit them. But a message has gone out and it has had an impact. They are dalits, also people across caste lines, there are women. I thought it subside after two-three days but it has only gone on increasing.

Q: But in Parliament, you appeared to prefer identity of a woman against the popular focus on your caste.

A: Unfortunately, caste is a dominant factor in Indian society. As I say, ours is a `janmapradhan' and not `karmapradhan' society. All achievements -- character, learning, sacrifice -- are incomplete till your caste is revealed.

Q: That makes you uncomfortable as you appeared to have played down the caste factor in your acceptance speech?

A: No. I have always felt that certain sections need empowerment. They don't need patronage but social justice. We have to talk of them, regardless of who we are. It is myopic to think that only if you belong to a group can you talk of it. And because I am from that group, I cannot shy away from it.

Q: Congress chose to send a message to SCs and women by making Jagjivan Ram's daughter the Speaker. But since even the Opposition can lay claim on your father, has it diluted Congress authorship of the move?

A: But he has been on both sides, that was the trajectory of his long political career. He was in Congress and in Janata Party. He was a man of the masses. He was a kind of person whom everybody would remember. He cuts across party or caste lines.

Q: Your views on women's quota bill?

A: It has been on the table for many years. There have been hurdles. Efforts are on for a consensus. There is a new Parliament, a new atmosphere. I want the quota, I want women to be empowered. I have said what has started with my election should continue.

Q: You piloted the contentious bill on reservation in private sector as minister of social justice (MSJ)? Your thoughts on it in the wake of women's bill.

A: We achieved a lot in MSJ. It's about changing the mindset. There was vehement opposition to private sector quota but in one year, we convinced captains of industry that there was a problem which needed to be addressed. They agreed to it, though they held out against reservation. They also agreed that merit was related to circumstances (of birth). We succeeded in changing the mindset.

Q: How do you look back on your tenure as social justice minister?

A: It was very fulfilling. I got a platform to do what I was doing all my life -- working against atrocities, against discrimination and education for the deprived.

Q: How was your experience as Speaker in the first session?

A: The first session passed off peacefully. Members spoke without disruption. The beginning was good. The first session in last Parliament was very disturbed. So, it's a positive sign.

New Delhi : The NCP on Saturday made Rajeev Jha new president of the party's youth wing in place of Conrad Sangma, who apparently could not devote much time for the job after recently becoming the Leader of Opposition in Meghalaya.
NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar said the change has been made with immediate effect.

New Delhi, Jun 14- Trouble in BJP deepened today with Yashwant Sinha quitting as Vice President even as party President Rajnath Singh threatened action against leaders violating party discipline and airing their views in public.
Significantly, minutes before Singh addressed a press conference virtually imposing a gag order on leaders talking to media on party matters, formally or informally, news filtered out that Sinha has resigned.


Sinha, elected from Hazaribagh in the recent elections and is understood to have been upset over recent appointments by L K Advani in the Parliamentary party, sent his resignation to Rajnath Singh.
Singh said he has not received the letter and he came to know about it only through the media.
At the press conference that comes amidst bitter infighting in the party, Singh acknowledged media reports that spoke of disarray in the leadership but refuted them saying they were united in analysing the reasons for the defeat.
“The media reports are far from truth. The leadership stands united and the party is united in analysing the outcome of the elections that have not come up to its expectations,” he said.
“This obviously has to be an exhaustive and collective exercise which has begun at various levels. This will culminate in a ‘Chintan Baithak’ (brainstorming session) in the month of August after the Budget session,” Singh said.

New Delhi, BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Friday cleared that no action was proposed in the party against Jaswant Singh for his public criticism of the poor handling of party’s poll campaign by those who were responsible for it.


“Since there is no proposal that action should be taken against Jaswant Singh there is no question of taking any action. To understand his words as accusations against some party leaders is wrong. Media is wrong in saying that action will be taken,” he said.


He said Singh had raised some issues and the party would consider them. However, party seniors feel that internal matters should not be discussed in the media or in public, Rudy said.

To a question that the issue had further damaged BJP’s reputation, Rudy said, “The party leadership is looking into the matter.”

Rudy’s comments came shortly after BJP chief Rajnath Singh, under pressure to take disciplinary action against Jaswant Singh, went to discuss the issue with senior party leader LK Advani.

Speculation about action against Singh arose after a meeting between party President Rajnath Singh and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani today.

According to reports, calls from within the party have increased to take disciplinary action against Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie and drop them from the party’s parliamentary board.

In the core committee meeting at Advani’s house on Wednesday, Singh had questioned the way the party was being run and the nomination of Arun Jaitley as Leader of the Opposition and some other appointments. There should be a relationship between performance and reward, he is believed to have said at the meeting.

Jaswant even wrote a letter to party chief Rajnath Singh over the issue, saying that those responsible for the defeat were being unduly rewarded, hinting at Arun Jaitley’s elevation as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, it is also being reported that the top rung leaders of the BJP have demanded an inquiry into how Jaswant Singh’s letter was leaked to the media.

The two leaders reportedly expressed their resentment at a BJP core group meeting in Delhi on Wednesday.

After the stunning poll debacle of BJP, cracks have appeared in the saffron brigade and several top rung leaders have made known their views.

Post defeat BJP the party with a difference is in the grip of infighting with fingers being pointed at campaign managers, senior leaders and the RSS.
Jaswant and Shourie were irked with this public sharing of views on the party’s debacle. The duo pointed out lapses in the poll campaign which led to massive defeats in Rajasthan and Uttarakhand apart from other states. They also felt that the party was not being run on desirable lines.

PATNA: JD(U) appears to be undecided on the issue of women's bill with the party chief opposing the measure in its present form and senior leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remaining non-committal.

The confusion in the JD(U) camp comes even as its NDA partner BJP has made its stand clear to support the bill.

Yadav is dead against the passage of the bill in its present form and has even threatened to commit suicide if there was no sub-quota for Dalit women in the proposed legislation.

On the other hand, Kumar has remained tightlipped on his stand. He has been merely saying that his party will take a decision once the bill is brought in Parliament.

"My party has not taken any decision on the subject as yet," Kumar said, when asked about the bill.

"As far I know the bill is before the standing committee of Parliament and we do not know what shape it will finally take. Let the suggestions from the standing committee come. We will then be ready with our views," he said.

New Delhi, June 8 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday distanced itself from the comments of Sudheendra Kulkarni, a key aide of L.K. Advani, that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was responsible for the BJP's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.

"The BJP distances itself from the remarks of Sudheendra Kulkarni. It is his personal analysis as an independent journalist," the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters here.

"Neither the party nor Advaniji agree with his analysis or his views on the RSS," she said.

Writing in the Tehelka newsmagazine, Kulkarni, who was a key poll strategist of the party, blamed the BJP leadership and the RSS for the debacle in the elections and said they made Advani "look weak, helpless and not fully in command".

While he urged the party to introspect, he said the "the RSS needs it no less. Its leaders must ask themselves, and answer the question honestly and earnestly. Why is the acceptability of the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad limited in Hindu society itself?"

He said the party "did nothing" while its allies started moving away because of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Sushma Swaraj said there were several reasons for the party's defeat not just one and "these would all be looked into at a meeting of the national executive (of the BJP)." It meets June 20 and 21.

Panaji, June 8 : The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Monday charged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had even 'bribed' Hindu gods to bolster their sagging vote bank in Goa.

The remarks by NCP leader Jitendra Deshprabhu come a day after the BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy said his party had finally broken the ice with Christian voters in the state.

Deshprabhu said the BJP 'bribed' numerous temple committees in the state with money in order to win the Lok Sabha polls.

'They did not even spare the Hindu deities. Bundles of notes were offered to the temple committees, bribing them in order to lure votes,' Deshprabhu told reporters.

BJP national spokesperson and in-charge of Goa Rudy Sunday said the sizeable number of Christian voters had finally warmed up to the party.

'The support the BJP got from the minority community in the Lok Sabha elections in Goa is a good sign. We managed to garner sizeable votes in minority-dominated constituencies,' the senior BJP leader said.

Deshprabhu alleged that BJP MP from North Goa Shripad Naik, during his previous stint, spent his MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds on communal projects.

'In the garb of spending money on community centres, he has only spent money on temples, which manage these centres,' said Deshprabhu, who lost the Lok Sabha election to Naik from North Goa.

'It is only furthering the BJP's communal agenda. Tell me, can you have a nikah (Muslim marriage) in a temple community centre? Can you have a Christian wedding at such MPLAD funded community centres run by temple managements?' he wondered.

Of Goa's two Lok Sabha seats, the BJP and the Congress won one each.

In an official statement following the meeting Sunday, which was attended by all state BJP bigwigs, the party said that lack of money

power was one of the main reasons for their lackluster performance in the state, which saw sitting MP Naik's lead slip by nearly 52,000 votes.

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party lost the Lok Sabha elections due to absence of key allies who deserted the National Democratic Alliance feeling that the 2002 communal violence in Gujarat could cost them Muslim votes and the party did nothing about it, says a key BJP strategist.In an article in the latest issue of the Tehelka newsmagazine, Sudheendra Kulkarni, a close aide to the BJP's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, writes: "In the aftermath of the 2004 defeat, many of our allies left the NDA.

"The main reason for their leaving was not that the NDA had been defeated, but their perception that the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 was an important cause of the defeat and, hence, their conclusion that continuation of the alliance with the BJP would cost them Muslim votes.

"At least 1,180 people, most of them Muslims, were killed during the communal violence in Gujarat. The BJP government in the state has been accused by many of having failed in controlling the violence early on.Kulkarni, a key BJP strategist, rues: "Between 2004 and 2009, the BJP did nothing to address this factor.

As a result, it failed to win back a single ally in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, or win a single ally in Kerala.

Moreover, almost on the eve of the 2009 elections, the BJP actually lost an important ally in Orissa due to inept alliance management.

"He writes that the chief reason the party could form a government in 1998 and 1999 "under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee was its ability to forge alliances" and cites four states where it had strong partners.Kulkarni refers to Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, "and first AIADMK and later DMK in Tamil Nadu. Its alliance with the Biju Janata Dal in Orissa (21 Lok Sabha seats) also proved to be extremely useful.

"The BJD, however, quit the BJP-led NDA just ahead of the April-May elections.He says: "Although it (BJP) has succeeded in bi-polarising India's politics at the Centre, its geographical presence in the country is much narrower than that of the Congress.

"It won only one seat in four big states that together account for 143 out of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha - West Bengal (42), Andhra Pradesh (42), Tamil Nadu (39) and Kerala (20).

The Congress' tally: 60 seats."Unless the BJP overcomes this structural weakness by increasing its own political and electoral strength in these big states, it can never emerge as an equal and durable alternative to the Congress nationally," he says.When IANS sought his further comments Sunday, Kulkarni only said: "I have written what I had to, I don't wish to say anything more."

Guwahati, June 7 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have decided to jointly fight the 2011 assembly elections in Assam, party leaders said Sunday.

“We have decided to fight jointly against the Congress,” an AGP spokesman said.

“We will hold a steering committee meeting June 10, an executive meeting June 14 and a general house meeting June 22 to chalk out strategies,” the spokesman added.

These meetings will also review the AGP’s performance in the 2009 parliamentary elections. Of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, AGP won one seat while its ally BJP got four seats, two more than in 2004.

Most BJP leaders and workers favour an AGP-BJP coalition.

“Only by mutual contest can the two parties dislodge the Congress government in Assam,” said Harendra Pratap Singh, BJP’s national executive member and the party in-charge of the northeastern region.

“If the two parties jointly contest the elections, they can make considerable gains,” he told reporters.
Leaders in both the parties said they would watch the coming by-elections for Dhekiajuli and South Salmara seats, which have fallen vacant as their legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Singh also referred to the BJP’s demand to form a Northeast Security Council (NSC) to tackle terrorism and infiltration and also demanded the fencing of India’s border with Myanmar and China.
“Militants in the region have been using Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar for training and shelter while getting arms from China,” he said.

According to him, there are more than 10 million illegal Bangladeshis in the northeast, especially in Assam.

Elections to the 126-member Assam assembly are expected to be held in March 2011. In 2006, the Congress secured 54 seats, the BJP 12 and AGP got 21 seats.

By Ashok Yadav

Contrary to the popular perception, the women reservation in legislature will seriously damage the women liberation movements that are current today in India. The various women groups committed to struggle for equality, honour and liberation of women from patriarchal system, family & society must oppose the concept of women reservation in legislature. To understand this the experience of SC/ST reservation in legislature is very useful.

Dr Ambedkar fought for separate electorate but the Poona Pact forced joint electorate system on dalits. Under the joint electorate system the protagonist of dalit rights Dr Ambedkar himself lost the election from a reserved constituency. Poona Pact or the system of joint electorate in which fifteen percent seats were reserved for SCs in legislative bodies and where the common population consisting of brahmins, the upper caste and the OBC elect a dalit candidate from their constituency, effectively checked the growth of independent and talented leaders in dalit community. Original, independent and talented dalit leaders lost their brilliance once they entered electoral politics because they had to curb their rebellious character so as not to displease his or her electorates which consisted mostly non-dalit castes. That is why Kanshi Ram termed these SC MPs and MLAs as nothing but the stooges of brahminical system and famously called the age that started from the date of signing of Poona Pact as “the age of stooges” i.e. “chamcha yug”.

Dalit MLAs and MPs have done little to advance the cause of dalits because they cannot afford to antagonize the caste hindus as they have to get elected. By winning good number of SC reserved constituencies in assembly and parliament elections the parties paying lip service, or we may even say working contrary to the dalit welfare, claim that they stand for dalit interests.

It is a hard fact that it is not the dalit MLAs and MPs who have taken forward the dalit cause. Rather they have harmed the dalit cause because instead of serving their community they have served their political masters. If dalit movement has come of an age in India it is not due to SC reservation in legislature but due to SC reservation in education and job. The dalit intelligentsia consisting of government employees, bureaucrats, teachers, professors, writers etc organized themselves into BAMCEF and then asserted dalit rights with a form and content that was never seen before. From BAMCEF emerged DS 4 and from the latter emerged Bahujan Samaj Party.

The experience of SC reservation in legislature is crucial in assessing the proposed women reservation in legislature. The women will not have separate electorate system and they will be elected by votes of both men and women. Any woman candidate giving a challenge to the predominantly patriarchal, casteist and feudal set up would alienate not only the men but the conservative women also, who vastly outnumber the progressive thinking women, who would constitute her electorate. So all women politicians, aspiring to enter assembly and parliament through reserved seats, will have to compromise and curb her core ideology. The women activists having entered electoral politics will cease to be activists for women cause and, instead, will serve their political masters. They will not have an independent politics of their own which is so crucial for emancipation of women from patriarchal bondage. No political party in the country has any radical agenda for social change. All political parties are content with maintaining status quo in the society and system. Women liberation is closely linked with breaking status quo of our society which is so much anti-women besides being anti-dalit bahujan. The social justice parties have reduced themselves to permutations and combinations of castes to win elections and form government. The left parties believe in economism. Their belief is that once economic system changes everything will change including family, society and state. In short, the women have nothing to gain by becoming a part of the political system that stands for status quo.

The women activists agitating for women reservation in legislature should learn lessons from the experiences of women politician of this country. For many years Indira Gandhi remained prime minister of this country and wielded almost unrestrained power. She nationalized the banks, ended the privy purse of the erstwhile kings, liberated Bangladesh, imposed emergency, declared India a secular & socialist country by inserting these two words in the preamble of the constitution of India and tested atom bombs in Pokhran. There are many credits in her name including waging struggle against old guards of the congress party and dividing the congress party to her benefits. But she never seemed a representative of the exploited and oppressed Indian women. She never took any concrete practical step to ameliorate the conditions of Indian women. She never was a voice of the dumb Indian women. When she was prime minister, in Delhi itself, lots of dowry deaths occurred, but she was unable to do anything. The same thing can be claimed against the stock of the present day women politicians. Just as dalit movements, led by independent dalit activists & intellectuals, throw a challenge to the dalit MLAs & MPs, so the independent women movements led by independent women activists will indeed be a challenge to the women MPs & MLAs. Dalit/OBC/tribal/minority movements constantly expose their community people who are active in the parliamentary politics with the result that the latter turn against the movements of their own community people. How can one claim that the same thing will not happen in the case of women movements? In short, the proposed 33% reservation to women in legislature will go against the women liberation movements.

The important question in this regard is that why ideologically different BJP, Congress and the left are united in their support to the women reservation bill. The reason of their united stand on the issue lies in their common upper caste mentality which is wary of the caste question. The politics of hindutva and class struggle converge on one point of their opposition to the caste question. The caste question poses challenges to left, right and centre alike. The policy, programme, strategy, tactics, ideology of these forces have all been severely disturbed by the caste question. The success of their projects lies in how much they are successful in putting the caste question under the carpet.

The principal contradiction operating in Indian society is caste contradiction in which on one side are men and women of the dalit, the OBC and the adivasis and on the other side are men and women of the brahmin and other upper castes. The primary cause of oppression and exploitation of Indian women is the caste system itself. The proponents of women reservation bill seldom acknowledge this. Their upper caste prejudices prevent them to appreciate that patriarchy in India is deeply rooted in caste system. Patriarchy and endogamy which are two main characteristic of caste system are deeply interlinked. The struggle of the lower castes against caste exploitation and system also consists within it struggle against endogamy and patriarchy. It is, therefore, the greatest champions of women liberation have been the leaders of anti-caste struggle. Jotiba Phule, Periyar, Dr Ambedkar and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia have been the tallest champions of women liberation in modern India. No other leaders from the upper caste background have equaled these social justice icons in their achievements for liberation of women. Of course names of great social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chand Vidyasagar from upper caste background are there but since they could not challenge brahminism in the same way as the social justice icons did they could not revolutionize the agenda of women liberation.

So the sharpening of caste contradiction and its eventual solution alone will remove the primary cause of women subjugation. The lower caste women go through far greater hardships and crisis in their life than their upper caste counterparts. They don’t have the same economic and social security which the upper caste women enjoy. This is indicated by the overwhelming presence of lower caste women among the rape victims. How can lower caste women remain immune from the general backwardness, illiteracy, poverty, economic hardships etc. of their caste and community? Similarly how can upper caste women remain aloof from the general prosperity, power and privileges of their caste and community? There are more disparities than similarities in the conditions of lower caste and upper caste women. The gender unity within the lower caste is indispensable in their fight against caste oppression and exploitation. The women reservation in legislature seeks to dilute and weaken the caste contradiction by bringing gender contradiction parallel to caste contradiction chiefly by refusing to give reservation to lower caste women in the overall women reservation. The women reservation in legislature will only intensify gender rivalry within the lower castes and ultimately harm the caste movements.

The women reservation in legislature will harm the caste movements in another way also. A large number of lower caste MPs and MLAs will be replaced by women candidates who will be raw in understanding politics. They will be most certainly be weak replacements of our male MPs and MLAs. What is happening today in the case of women panchayat representatives will also happen tomorrow in the case of women MLAs and MPs, most particularly those belonging to the lower castes. The overall performance of OBC, dalit and tribal MLAs & MPs will go down. The upper caste female legislatures being more educated, more articulate and smarter than their lower caste counterparts will certainly score points over them. The women reservation bill in the present form i.e. without reservation for lower caste women seems a ploy on the part of upper caste vested interests to prevent the falling number of the upper caste MLAs and MPs. So in all likelihood the women reservation bill is going to bring crisis in the lower caste movements. That is why the forces, wary of ever sharpening caste contradictions, despite their sharp mutual ideological differences on other issues, have united themselves to push women reservation bill without caring a whit for reservation for the lower caste women.

Conclusion

Social justice leaders are demanding in one voice for reservation within reservation i.e. reservation for lower castes in 33% women reservation. Previously they were against women reservation in legislature because they felt that the women of their castes and communities were not educationally ready to take the huge responsibility of an MP and MLA. Now when they see that women reservation in legislature has become fait accompli, they are demanding reservation within reservation. Instead of going for reservation within reservation they should out rightly reject women reservation in legislature. But their fear of being branded anti-women by the mainstream brahminical media prevents them from taking a clear and bold line. Instead of going for reservation within reservation in legislature they should demand reservation to women in education and job in all categories viz. SC, ST, OBC and General. In other words, 33% or 50%, whatever it may be, as per the outcome of debate and general consensus that may emerge among different women groups and political parties, seats should be reserved in education and jobs, within all categories for the female candidates. Reservation in legislature will produce women leaders of servile mentality whereas reservation in education and job will produce independent and free thinking women. Let them acquire independent and free thinking status and then enter legislature without the help of reservation. The women of India do not need reservation in legislature but reservation in education and job. The women of India must reject out rightly reservation in legislature and aggressively pursue reservation in education and job. It is a matter of great surprise that the protagonists of women reservation in legislature are maintaining complete silence on women reservation in education and job. The only explanation for their silence on this important issue seems to be that politics and status quo rather than real progress and radical changes in the condition of women of India are their concern.

However if women reservation in legislature has become fait accompli then the only option that remain for the social justice forces is to not budge from their stand of having reservation for women of SC, ST, OBC and minorities in the 33% reservation for women in assemblies and parliaments otherwise it will divert caste contradiction

ashok yadav is associated with
ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF OBC EMPLOYEES WELFARE ASSOCIATION
email contact: ashoky

The President, Ms Pratibha Patil’s address to the joint session of the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday held a few surprises. With the UPA back in the saddle, the thinking that would animate the Manmohan Singh government’s policies in its second term obviously remains unchanged.

Essentially, this means trying to innovate to boost private business with a view to ensuring growth while taking on board the pressing needs of India’s sprawling below-the-poverty-line sector, typically comprising dalits, tribals, the extreme backward castes, and the bulk of the minorities — spread in rural and urban slum settlements.

With the Left off the government’s back this time around, UPA-2 would be better placed to privatise/disinvest, and cut subsidies like oil — or even fertilisers — to find the money for the maze of social sector spending to which it has committed itself. Financial sector reforms, in effect permitting private players including foreigners in entities like pension funds, are also likely to be on the cards.

These entered the President’s address, which traditionally sets forth an incoming government’s five-year policy plan, through the rubric of “economic management” to counter the effects of the global economic slowdown.

The real surprise is that Dr Singh, in his second innings, has chosen to stick with policies that expand rural employment and boost housing, health and education for the poor in rural and urban areas, and also for forest dwellers.

This may dismay the Left, which continues to believe that policies with such an orientation were on the table on account of its insistence.

Since the global slowdown has to be fought today, measures to balance the budget are needed now, especially since a range of social sector outlays have been indicated. We shall know more about this, including taxation details and the broad fiscal direction of the economy, when the Union Budget is presented next month.

However, the President’s address could have been more forthcoming on the means it proposes to devise to cut the bloated bureaucracy, increase its productivity, and make procedures more contemporary, less cumbersome and more leak-proof.

So far thinking on this has been a pie in the sky. First brought to the table by UPA-1, this critical area has been uptil now no more than a lazy slogan. Pouring in vast sums to alleviate the lot of the needy is likely to be a misdirected effort if the machinery of the government is sloppy, unproductive and leaks like a sieve.

The ideas presented by the President in her address point to the zeal for building a nation that is more modern, more equitable, more democratic, more productive, better nourished, better educated, and healthier, in order to be competitive in an age when the “knowledge society” is the buzzword.

But the means of delivery for much of this remains the government employee sector — known only too well for its inefficiency, greed and lack of transparency.

Unless the government can change their ways and cut their numbers, it is hard to see how the proposed laudable aims can materialise. After the terrorist attacks of the past few years culminating in the horror of Mumbai last November, it was only expected that internal security will get top billing in the President’s address.

However, clearer and more focused references to policy in respect of Pakistan, which is at the centre of any meaningful discussion on terrorism in India and the world, could have lent greater weight to the President’s pronouncements.

Some nuancing of our approach towards the United States is critical while addressing issues relating to Pakistan. The President may have done well to give a hint of this.

Bappaditya Paul

SILIGURI, June 5 : Robbed of his chief ministerial ambitions, by ally UDP in Meghalaya, NCP general secretary and the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr PA Sangma, is eyeing to return to national politics.

As per sources close to him, the UPA top brass wants Mr Sangma to return to the national arena, in some key role, that will be befitting to his stature.
He could either make a come back as a Cabinet minister or in some respectable constitutional position, such as the deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission, sources said.
“The request has come from the UPA itself and Mr Sangma is considering it positively. But in any situation, Mr Sangma returns to the national arena, it must conform to his stature as a former Union Cabinet minister and Lok Sabha Speaker. After all he cannot accept a lower position,” said Mr Ratan Shome ~ a close associate of Mr Sangma, based at Tura, in Meghalaya.
Mr Sangma is now camping in New Delhi, to weigh the possibility of his desired come back and a development is likely to take place in the next couple of days.
Sixty-two year old Mr Sangma, had voluntarily relinquished the Tura MP seat, for his daughter Ms Agatha Sangma, in 2007 and decided to stay in the state politics in Meghalaya.
In fact, he later got elected as a MLA and materialised a coalition government in Megha-laya ~ comprising the NCP, UDP and other smaller regional political factions

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar at her first news conference. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

GUWAHATI, Jun 4 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Assam Pradesh on Sunday slammed the State Government for recommending action against the elected North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) and alleged that the ruling Congress has always been plotting to overthrow non-Congress governments. Addressing mediapersons here, the functionaries of the party made it clear that the BJP had no objection to law taking its own course in the case of certain members of the council, but the entire autonomous council should not be held responsible and suspended in total disregard to democratic aspirations of the people.

“If there are allegations of corruption or involvement in diversion of funds to the coffers of the extremist groups against anybody in the executive committee of the NCHAC, then action should be taken as per the law of the land,” said the BJP.

Terming the recommendation as undemocratic, anti-tribal and against the mandate of the people of NC Hills, the BJP said that it was an attempt by the Congress government to cover up its miserable failure in tackling the present volatile law-and-order situation. “At a time when the NC Hills is passing through a very critical period in terms of social and political dynamics, suspension of the NCHAC will only further alienate the people of NC Hills,” said the BJP.

On the other hand, referring to the breakdown of the BJP-ASDC alliance, the BJP said that the Congress had succeeded in its machinations and the ASDC in its attempt to cling to power had played to the tunes of the Congress. “But now the ASDC has paid a heavy price by dancing to the tune of the Congress which sees no use of the ASDC after the Lok Sabha elections,” the BJP said.

The BJP also said that the Congress wanted to keep the NC Hills district a perennial conflict zone for its own advantage.

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha is all set to get a Dalit woman as its Speaker. Ms Meira Kumar, who resigned from the Union Cabinet on Sunday, has become the consensus candidate of both the ruling coalition and the Opposition, including BJP.

The formal nomination of Ms Kumar for the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha is expected to be announced on Tuesday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson, is expected to propose Ms Kumar’s name in the nomination paper. It is likely to be seconded by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee. She’ll be formally elected as the Speaker on Wednesday.

The choice of Ms Kumar as the party's candidate for the presiding officer of the Lok Sabha is the crowning glory of the Congress' efforts to woo the Dalit vote.

In its second innings, the UPA has appointed nine Dalits in the council of ministers, of which five are in the Cabinet — four from Congress and one from DMK. Ms Krishna Tirath is the sole Dalit among the seven ministers of state with independent charge.

Congress, which is experiencing a revival, especially in politically crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, would like to tap into the Dalit votebank. In Uttar Pradesh, there has been a degree of disenchantment with Mayawati's BSP even among the Dalits.

Congress would not like to miss the opportunity to draw this sizeable votebank into its fold. In appointing Dalits from across the country to positions of responsibility and authority, Congress hopes to present an alternative and more inclusive focal point.

So, while Ms Mayawati's efforts of "social upliftment" have been centred on making a "dalit ki beti" (a Dalit's daughter) the prime minister, Congress is attempting to present a more inclusive picture of empowerment.

Congress' resurgence story was most clearly visible in Uttar Pradeh in the general elections. The party would like to consolidate onto this renewed interest of the electorate. Attracting the Dalit vote is crucial if the party has to place itself ahead of BSP. It has already managed to eat into BSP and SP's Muslim vote base, and cornering at least a section of the Dalit vote would place it ahead of its rivals in the state.

Karia Munda (member of Parliament from Jharkhand), Shripad Naik (Goa) and Gopinath Munde(Maharashtra) are being considered for the post

New Delhi: With the ruling Congress party nominating Meira Kumar to the post of Lok Sabha speaker, the first Dalit woman to hold this post, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to follow suit and nominate a candidate from the lower castes to the deputy speaker’s post. “We are considering Karia Munda (member of Parliament from Jharkhand), Shripad Naik (Goa) and Gopinath Munde(Maharashtra) for the post,” said a senior BJP leader.

New Delhi, June 2 : Projecting India in an 'incredible manner' during the Commonwealth Games in 2010 will be her top priority, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni said soon after taking charge Monday.

'We want to project India in Commonwealth Games in an incredible manner and that is our major priority,' Soni told IANS.

The minister said she would ensure wide coverage of the sporting event.

Soni, who was earlier minister of tourism and culture, said the government would partner with the media and representatives of all stakeholders to handle issues in as sensitive a manner as possible.

'We will try to bring a harmonious working relationship to the benefit and advantage of all,' she added.

Soni said she will focus on achieving consensus on content code for news broadcasters and looking into the demands of print as well as electronic media.

The minister said she will be sitting with her colleagues and senior officials to chalk out the programme for 100 days.

Hailing Meira Kumar's selection for the post of Lok Sabha speaker, Soni said: 'We are thankful to the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chief Sonia Gandhi and all other allies as for the first time a constitutional post is going to a Dalit woman.'

'She (Meira Kumar) is an active politician and is the daughter of Jagjivan Ram (a social reformer and Dalit leader). This is the first time that a woman would be holding the post of speaker. We are sure she would play a very active and important role in raising the voice of the weaker section,' she added.

She said that although the women's reservation bill has not been cleared, the Congress has always pitched for women.

'Our president is a woman and the UPA chairperson is a woman. Now, there are many women in the parliament,' she said.

Soni was flanked by her junior ministers Choudhury Mohan Jatua of the Trinamool Congress and S. Jagathrakshakan of the DMK. While Jatua had taken charge Saturday, Jagathrakshakan took charge as minister of state for information and broadcasting Monday.

New Delhi, Jun 2 : They were "excited", "overwhelmed" and looking forward to "learn" -- for the first-time parliamentarians, the entry into the citadel of democracy was an experience worth cherishing.

But for the new Lok Sabha members, the day also heralded the emergence of a challenge -- to deliver on the promises they have made to the people.

Agatha Sangma, the 28-year-old NCP MP from Meghalaya who is also the youngest minister in the Union Council, said the first day in Parliament was "very exciting".

"The experience is very exciting and I am looking forward to work for my constituency and also for the country," the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma said.

Young Congress MP from Haryana Shruti Choudhury felt privileged to be in the Lok Sabha.

"It is overwhelming. It is also a great privilege and responsibility to be here," said Ms. Choudhury, daughter of Haryana Tourism Minister Kiran Choudhury.

Kalikesh Singhdeo, the BJD MP who trounced sister-in-law Sangeeta Singhdeo from Bolangir in Orissa, said "it was challenging too, because now you will have to deliver."

Mr. Singhdeo's constituency has frequently been in the news for wrong reasons like reports of poverty deaths and sale of children by impoverished parents. The MP, who belongs the royal family of Bolangir, said his first priority for his area will be livelihood issues and drinking water.

By Rahi Gaikwad

Mumbai: The social engineering marvel that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) created seems to have snagged in Maharashtra. As results of the 2009 Lok Sabha came in, it became evident that the much talked about ‘BSP factor’ had ebbed.

Indeed, among the many surprises in this election was the BSP’s lustreless performance in the State.
Vidarbha is where the BSP was expected to make its big gains. The Dalits were a key vote bank, although the BSP is not strictly a Dalit party. With the Republican Party of India (RPI) practically non-existent, the BSP’s chances seemed brighter.

The Dalit voters, however, seemed wary of the party’s claims of representing their cause, having seen the RPI’s debacle. Ms. Mayawati’s attempts to woo the upper caste voters could have given rise to some amount of distrust in her Dalit agenda. There existed a sense of dissatisfaction over the fielding of Brahmin candidates. Even before polling, a clear preference for the BSP among the Dalits was hard to spot.

Some gains The party did make some serious gains in Nagpur. It doubled its vote share to 15.71 per cent from 7.9 per cent in 2004, polling over one lakh votes and retaining the third place. Days before the results were announced, its Nagpur candidate Manikrao Vaidya was reported to have led a victory procession. However, the city went to the sitting MP Vilas Muttemwar of Congress. The BJP’s Banwarilal Purohit came second.

The ‘BSP factor’ did come into play at a few places, hurting the Congress-NCP as well as the BJP-Sena. In Nagpur for instance, Vaidya, a Teli community leader, helped the Congress win by eroding the BJP’s vote base among the Telis. The BSP fared well in Vidarbha’s Wardha district. It grabbed an impressive 17.11 per cent of the votes (over one lakh) way up from its 8.62 per cent vote share in 2004. This could have hurt the BJP, which had won Wardha in 2004. This time, Datta Meghe of the Congress won by a margin of 95,000 votes.

On the other hand, in Buldhana, the BSP with over 80,000 votes seems to have dented the chances of the NCP’s Dr. Rajendra Shingane. He lost to the Shiv Sena by 28,000 votes.

Similarly, in the new constituency of Yavatmal-Washim, the BSP weaned away over 60,000 votes. And the Congress candidate Haribhau Rathod lost to the Sena’s Bhavana Gawli by almost that many votes.

In a more decisive role, the BSP polled over one lakh votes in Marathwada’s Hingoli, a strong improvement over its 2004 tally of 30,000 votes. It cut deep into the vote base of the sitting MP Suryakanta Patil of the NCP, leading to her loss. The BSP held sway among the tribal voters. In the new tribal constituency of Gadchiroli-Chimur, the party snapped up a sizeable 1.35 lakh votes – 16.21 per cent.

It is in Vidarbha that the BSP suffered heavy losses. In Bhandara-Gondia, its vote tally plunged by 7 percentage points. Its candidate Virendra Jaiswal had started a campaign maligning the NCP’s Praful Patel.

To woo the Dalit voters, Jaiswal claimed that Mr. Patel’s father was the caused for Dr. Ambedkar’s defeat in the 1954 by-election.

The Khairlanji massacre and the shoddy handling of the case had led to much resentment towards the NCP among the Dalits. Plus, no RPI candidate was contesting from Bhandara. Despite these favourable factors, the BSP tanked and Mr. Patel won by a huge margin.

In another huge loss, the BSP halved its vote share in Chandrapur from 12.4 per cent in 2004 to 6.4 per cent in 2009.

Barring six seats in Vidarbha and one in Marathwada, the BSP was not in the reckoning anywhere else in the State. Altogether, it took 10 per cent and more votes in six seats in Maharashtra. Trying all formulae, it fielded Brahmins, Dalits, Muslims and NCP rebels, but met with a cold response. Its Brahmin candidates in Pune and Nashik fared poorly, notably due to the presence of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Its Muslim candidates failed to awe as the Muslim vote largely went to the Congress.

Prediction According to the party’s estimate, reported in the media, it was poised to win 15 seats in Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats. Instead, the party lost its deposits in 34 of the 47 seats it contested – Akola is the only seat it did not contest.

Overall, the BSP’s vote share in the State in 2009 is 4.83 per cent. The party polled close to 18 lakh of the over three-and-a-half crore votes. This is only slight better than its 2004 vote share of 3.05 per cent – up to 10.5 lakh votes. In the 1999 Lok Sabha, its share was 0.32 per cent. However, a decade after it set its foot in Maharashtra the ‘Elephant’ has still to sound its trumpet.

New Delhi June 2 : It will be a brand new Lok Sabha that will open on Monday, full of fresh young faces in the Treasury benches.

The highlight of this session, which will conclude on June 9, will be the election of a new Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament and the consequent unveiling of the Congress-dominant United Progressive Alliance’s agenda for governance.

The President’s address, customarily delivered at the first session of Parliament in the year, and also at the beginning of the first session after each general elections to the Lok Sabha, is drafted and okayed by the Cabinet, and gives important clues to the direction and working of the new government.

The first two days of the 15th Lok Sabha have been kept for newly elected members to take oath followed by election of the Speaker on June 3.

Union Minister and Congress’ Dalit face, Meira Kumar, has emerged as the consensus candidate for the Speaker’s post. She met Congress President Sonia Gandhi today and if endorsed by the party, will become India’s first dalit woman Speaker, something that the Congress is likely to wear as a badge of honour.

The post of Deputy Speaker has been offered to the BJP with the prime minister himself calling up senior BJP leader L K Advani to make the proposal, a convention that has been followed for a couple of decades.

On June 4, President Pratibha Patil will address the joint sitting of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha that would chart out the road map of the second term of the Manmohan Singh government, which came back to power with renewed mandate as the Congress alone secured 206 seats. The party had 145 seats in the previous House.

With pre-poll allies, the UPA is almost near the majority mark of 272 and backed by post-poll partners, the coalition strength has gone up to 322.

The first person to be administered oath will be Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee followed by Leader of Opposition L K Advani.

Given the bitter relations between the Opposition and the treasury benches in the previous Lok Sabha, the government has extended an olive branch to the Opposition ahead of the first session.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal has assured the Opposition that the government would give full consideration to its viewpoint and sought cooperation in the smooth running of Parliament.

Towards the end of June, Parliament will convene a longer session when the new government will present the full Budget for 2009-10.