Kumari Mayawati (Hindi: मायावती) (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician who is a former Chief Minister^[2] of Uttar Pradesh.^[3][4] She heads the Bahujan Samaj Party, which represents the Bahujans or Dalits, the weakest strata of Indian society. She completed four terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, but lost the 2012 legislative assembly elections to the rival Samajwadi Party. She resigned from her post on 7 March 2012 . An icon for millions of India's Dalits, who were oppressed by the Hindu upper castes for centuries, she is sometimes referred to as "Behen-ji" (sister).^[5]

Mayawati's rise from humble beginnings has been called a "miracle of democracy" by P. V. Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India.^[6] In 1993 she formed a coalition with the Samajwadi Party and emerged, at 39, the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the first Dalit woman Chief Minister in India.^[5] In 1997 and in 2002, she was Chief Minister in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the second time for a full term. In two of these coalitions, she withdrew her support in midterm.

Mayawati's tenure has attracted controversy.^[7] The rise in her personal wealth^[8][9] and that of her party^[10] are described by critics as indicators of corruption.^[5][11]

Personal life[link]

Mayawati's father, Prabhu Das, was a post office employee at Badalpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar.^[2] She was born in New Delhi at Shrimati Sucheta Kriplani Hospital.^[2] The family belonged to the Jatav caste, at the upper end^[12] of the scheduled castes. The sons in the family were sent to private schools while the daughters went to "low-performing government schools".^[13]

Mayawati was a good student and completed three degrees – a Bachelors of Arts from Kalindi Women's College and Law faculty, Campus Law Centre, under the University of Delhi. Subsequently, she completed a B.Ed from VMLG College, Ghaziabad.^[2] She graduated from Kalindi College, Delhi University in 1975. She completed B.Ed from Meerut University in 1976. In 1983, she did LL.B from Delhi University. She was working as a teacher in Inderpuri JJ Colony, Delhi, and studying for the Indian Administrative Services exams, when Dalit politician Kanshi Ram came to their house in 1977. According to biographer Ajoy Bose, Kanshi Ram said, "I can make you such a big leader one day that not one but a whole row of IAS officers will line up for your orders."^[13] She was part of Kanshi Ram's team when he founded the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in 1984. In 1989 she was elected to the parliament from Bijnor.

At Kanshi Ram's funeral ceremonies in 2006, Mayawati said they had both been following Buddhist traditions and customs.^[14] Her act of performing the last rites (traditionally done by a male heir) was an instance of their views against gender discrimination.^[14] She has indicated that she may formally convert to Buddhism at some point.^[15]

Mayawati said in an interview that she has no time for family life or romantic relationships because she wants to focus on her political career; this is why she remains unmarried.^[16]

Political career[link]

In 1984 Kanshi Ram founded the BSP as a party to represent the Dalits and Buddhists.^[17] Mayawati was a key member of this organisation. BSP fielded Mayawati for its first election campaign from the Kairana Lok Sabha (Lower House) seat in the Muzaffarnagar district in 1984, and then again for the Lok Sabha seats of Bijnor in 1985 and Haridwar in 1987. In 1989 she was elected for the Lok Sabha seat of Bijnor, with 183,189 votes.^[18][19]

Although BSP did not win, the electoral experience led to considerable activity for Mayawati over the next five years, as she worked with Mahsood Ahmed and other organisers. In the 1989 election, the party won 9% of the popular vote and 13 seats. It won 11 seats in the 1991 election. Because the Dalits are widely spread over the state, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati adopted a policy of attracting other groups, which continues today.

Mayawati won election to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1989, from Bijnor. In 1995, while a member of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House), she became a Chief Minister in a short-lived coalition government, and validated her position by winning from two constituencies in 1996. She was again Chief Minister for a short period in 1997, and then for a somewhat longer term in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2001 her mentor, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Kanshi Ram, named her as his successor. In 2012 she was defeated in the state elections.

2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections[link]

Contrary to some poll predictions, BSP won a majority in the 2007 elections, the first such majority since 1991. Mayawati attracted support from Brahmins, Thakurs, Muslims, and members of other backward classes. These people voted for a Dalit party for the first time, partly because BSP had offered seats to people from these communities. The campaign was accompanied by a colourful slogan: Haathi nahin, Ganesh hain, Brahma, Vishnu Mahesh Hain: "The elephant (BSP Logo) is really the Lord Ganesha, the trinity of gods rolled into one". Her new slogan invited everyone, including the higher castes, to "come ride the elephant", her party's election symbol.^[5]

Chief Minister, 2007[link]

Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time on 13 May 2007. She announced an agenda that focused on providing social justice to the weaker sections of society and providing employment instead of distributing money to the unemployed. Her slogan was to make "Uttar Pradesh" ("Northern Province") into "Uttam Pradesh" ("Excellent Province").

In 2007 Mayawati's government began a major crackdown on irregularities in the recruitment process of police officers recruited during the previous Mulayam Singh government. So far 17,868 policemen have lost their jobs for irregularities in the recruitment process and 25 IPS officers were suspended for their involvement in corruption while recruiting the police constables.^[20][21] Mayawati is instituting reforms to introduce transparency into the recruiting process, including posting results of selection exams online.^[22]

As part of her social reform plans she advocates reservation for the poor among upper castes in addition to reservation for weaker sections of society. Reservation in India is a system whereby a percentage of government positions and seats in all universities are reserved for persons in backward classes and scheduled castes and tribes.^[23]

2009 parliamentary elections[link]

The BSP won 20 seats in Lok Sabha from the state of Uttar Pradesh in the 2009 elections. The BSP obtained the highest percentage (27. 42%) of votes in Uttar Pradesh for any one political party. It was in third position in terms of national polling percentage (6.17%).^[24]

2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections[link]

On 6 March 2012 the Bahujan Samaj Party lost its majority to the Samajwadi Party. Mayawati tendered her resignation to the governor of Uttar Pradesh on 7 March 2012.^[25] On 13 March 2012 she filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha.^[26]

Political and legal issues[link]

Taj corridor case[link]

In 2003 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)raided Mayawati's residence in relation to the Taj corridor case, two days after it had filed an First Information Report against her.^[27] This led to discovery of assets disproportionate to her known income.^[28][29]

In June 2007 The UP Governor T.V. Rajeswar said that there wasn't enough evidence against her for her prosecution in the case. |In his 23-page order, he said: 'the fact that the Mission Management Board, consisting of officers of both the State and the Central Government, regularly met and discussed the project and the fact that even a sum of Rs. 17 crore was spent through the Central Government public sector undertaking, NPCC, all go to show that the serious offences with which Mayawati and the Minister were charged do not stand scrutiny.'^[30]

Advocates challenged the Governor's decision in court, but failed. The Supreme Court rejected the plea of the CBI and by refusing to direct the Governor to prosecute her, effectively ending the Taj corridor case before going to trial.^[31][32][33]

Birthdays[link]

Mayawati's birthdays have been major media events, where she appeared laden with diamonds.^[5] Her supporters have declared her birthday as Jan Kalyankari Diwas (People's Welfare Day). In 2009 the day was marked by the announcement of welfare schemes targeted towards poor and downtrodden people of the state.^[34] Her 2010 birthday was marked by the launch of programmes with a value of over Rs 7,312 crores.^[35]

Disproportionate assets case[link]

Mayawati's assets run into millions of dollars, with several properties to her name.^[5] In the 2007–08 assessment year, Mayawati paid an income tax of Rupees 26 crores, ranking among the top 20 taxpayers in the country. Earlier the CBI had filed a case against her for owning assets disproportionate to her known sources of income. Mayawati described the CBI investigation against her as illegal.^[36] Her party asserts that her income comes from gifts and small contributions made by party workers and supporters.^[37][38]

On 3 August 3 2011 the Delhi High court dismissed the central government's appeal against Mayawati, stating that "she has fully discharged her obligations by disclosing the identities of all of her donors, the gifts had been donated by her supporters”.^[39] The central government decided not to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.^[40]

On 13 March 2012 Mayawati revealed assets worth Rs. 111.26 crores in an affidavit filed with her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha.^[26]

Statues[link]

In her tenures as a Chief Minister, Mayawati erected number of statues of Buddhist, Hindu, and Dalit icons like Gautam Buddha, Ravidas, Narayana Guru, Jyotirao Phule, Shahuji Maharaj, Periyar Ramasami, Bhimrao Ambedkar, BSP founder Kanshi Ram, and of herself.^[41] She claims that the expenditure on statues and symbols of Dalit icons was required because the past governments did not show respect towards Dalit leaderss, in whose memory nothing was ever built.^[42] She spent over Rs 2,500 crore on projects in five parks and memorials like B R Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal and Manyavar Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, built in the name of Bhimrao Ambedkar, Ramabai Ambedkar, and Kanshi Ram in Lucknow between 2007 and 2009.^[43][44] The Comptroller and Auditor General of India reported that Rs. 15 crore was spent on memorials.^[45] The Supreme Court of India admitted a Public Interest Litigation questioning this expenditure. In February 2010 Mayawati's government approved a plan for a special police force to protect the statues. She feared that her political opponents might demolish the statues.^[46]

In October 2011 Mayawati inaugurated the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden, built at a cost of 685 crores.^[47] Since the memorial also features her own statues, Mayawati was accused by the Indian National Congress of wasting the tax-payers' money.^[48] The BSP dismissed the allegations, and stated that her statues were erected because Kanshi Ram's will requested that his statues should be constructed next to those of the current President of BSP. Mayawati accused the Congress of being "anti-Dalit".^[48]

World Bank criticism[link]

The World Bank loaned India funds for development, and Mayawati was to manage projects with this money in UP.^[49] The projects were preplanned and on schedule, but the Mayawati government made changes which put the project behind schedule. The World Bank sent a letter of complaint on 1 August 2002 to India's central government stating, "We have now learnt that project managers have been replaced within three weeks of assuming office. The project coordinator of the Diversified Agriculture Support Project has been changed twice in quick succession and at the moment there is no project coordinator. In the forestry project, numerous changes have been made over the past six months ... Such developments do not augur well for these time-bound projects that require consistently good leadership."^[50]

WikiLeaks allegations[link]

Diplomatic cables published in 2011 through WikiLeaks detailing the opinions of American civil servants asserted that Mayawati ran all governmental decisions through her small group of advisors and that she employed food tasters for security.^[51] The diplomatic cables also alleged that Mayawati sent a private jet to Mumbai to retrieve some sandals.^[52] Mayawati responded to the cables by saying that the statements they presented were baseless.^[53]

Other[link]

Kanshi Ram, head of the Bahujan Samaj Party, praised Mayawati at her 47th birthday celebrations for her fundraising activities on behalf of the party. He stated that the party's eventual goal is to gain power in Delhi, and that Mayawati's efforts help in that quest.^[54]

Mayawati's public meetings are attended by large audiences, using slogans such as "Kanshi Ram ka mission Adhoora; karegi Behen Mayawati poora" (Kanshi Ram's unfulfilled mission will be completed by Mayawati), "Behenji tum sangharsh karo; hum tumhare saath hain" (Sister, go ahead with your struggle; we are with you).^[55]

Books on Mayawati[link]

Many studies have been done on Mayawati and many books have been published, including her autobiographies. One of the first works was journalist Mohammad Jamil Akhter's book, Iron Lady Kumari Mayawati.^[56] Her autobiographies are Mere Sangarshmai Jeevan Evam Bahujan Movement Ka Safarnama in three volumes in Hindi, and A Travelogue of My Struggle-ridden Life and of Bahujan Samaj, in English in two volumes.^[57] Behenji : A Political Biography Of Mayawati is a biography by veteran journalist Ajoy Bose.^[13]

See also[link]

• Ambedkar Samajik Parivarthan Sthal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official biodata
• Bahujan Samaj Party
• "Untouchable" seeks power in Indian election

Timeline[link]

Sonia Gandhi
Chairperson of the National Advisory Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 March 2010
In office 2004–2006
Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004
Member of Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 2006
Constituency	Rae Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
In office 2004–2006
President of the Indian National Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 1998
Member of Lok Sabha
In office 1999–2004
Constituency	Amethi, Uttar Pradesh
Leader of the Opposition
In office 19 March 1998 – 22 May 2004
Preceded by	Sharad Pawar
Succeeded by	Lal Krishna Advani
Personal details
Born	Edvige Antonia Albina Maino (1946-12-09) 9 December 1946 (age 65) Lusiana, Veneto, Italy
Citizenship	India
Nationality	Italian[citation needed]
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Rajiv Gandhi (m. 1969–1991) «start: (1969)–end+1: (1992)»"Marriage: Rajiv Gandhi to Sonia Gandhi" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Sonia_Gandhi)
Children	Rahul Gandhi Priyanka Vadra
Residence	10 Janpath, New Delhi, India
Profession	Politician social worker
Religion	Roman Catholicism[1]

Sonia Gandhi (born Antonia Edvige Albina Maino^[2][3][4] on 9 December 1946)^[5] is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and belongs to Nehru–Gandhi family. After his assassination in 1991, she was invited by the Indian National Congress to take over the Congress but refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding by the Congress. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997; in 1998, she was elected as the leader of the Congress.

Since then, Sonia Gandhi has been the President of the Indian National Congress Party. She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party.^[6] Her foreign birth has been a subject of much debate and controversy.^[7][8][9] Although Sonia is actually the fifth foreign-born person to be leader of the Congress Party, she is the first since independence in 1947.^[10]

Early life[link]

Sonia Gandhi's birthplace, 31, Contrada Maini (Maini street), Lusiana, Italy (the house on the right)

She was born to Stefano and Paola Maino in Contrada Màini ("Maini quarter/district"), at Lusiana,^[11][12] a little village 30 km from Vicenza in Veneto,^[13] Italy, where families with the family name "Màino" have been living for many generations.^[14][15][16] She spent her adolescence in Orbassano,^[17] a town near Turin, being raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family and attending a Catholic school. Her father, a building mason, died in 1983.^[18] Her mother and two sisters still live around Orbassano.^[19]

In 1964, she went to study English at the Bell Educational Trust's language school in the city of Cambridge. She met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge in 1965 at a Greek restaurant (the Varsity Restaurant) while working there as a waitress to make ends meet.^[20][21] Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi married in 1968, following which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.^[22]

The couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) and Priyanka Vadra (born 1972). Despite belonging to the influential Nehru family, Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics. Rajiv worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family.^[23] When Indira was ousted from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the Indian Emergency, the Rajiv family moved abroad for a short time.^{[citation needed]} When Rajiv entered politics in 1982 after the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash on 23 June 1980, Sonia continued to focus on her family and avoided all contact with the public.^[24]

Political career[link]

Wife of the Prime Minister[link]

Sonia Gandhi's involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husband's election as Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister's wife she acted as his official hostess and also accompanied him on a number of state visits.^{[citation needed]} In 1984, she actively campaigned against her husband's sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhi's five years in office, the Bofors Scandal broke out. Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian business man believed to be involved, was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Minister's official residence.^[25] In 1980, her name appeared in the voter's list for New Delhi prior to her becoming an Indian Citizen, when she was still holding Italian Citizenship.^[26] It was a violation of Indian Laws.^[27] When she did acquire Indian Citizenship in April 1983, the issue cropped up again, as her name appeared on the 1983 voter's list when the deadline for registering had been in January 1983.^[28][29]

Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee said that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983. Italian nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992. So, by acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship.^[30]

Congress President[link]

With the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev during his State visit in December 2010.

After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and her refusal to become Prime Minister, the party settled on the choice of P. V. Narasimha Rao who became leader and subsequently Prime Minister. Over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the 1996 elections. Several senior leaders such as Madhavrao Sindhia, Rajesh Pilot, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Mamata Banerjee, G. K. Moopanar, P. Chidambaram and Jayanthi Natarajan were in open revolt against incumbent President Sitaram Kesri and quit the party, splitting the Congress into many factions.^{[citation needed]}

In an effort to revive the party's sagging fortunes, she joined the Congress Party as a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became party leader in 1998.^[31]

In May 1999, three senior leaders of the party (Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar) challenged her right to try to become India's Prime Minister because of her foreign origins. In response, she offered to resign as party leader, resulting in an outpouring of support and the expulsion from the party of the three rebels who went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party.^[32]

Within 62 days of joining as a primary member, she was offered the party President post which she accepted.^{[citation needed]} She contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in 1999. In Bellary she defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj.^[33] In 2004 and 2009, she was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.^[34]

Leader of the Opposition[link]

Sonia Gandhi welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to her residence, 10 Janpath in New Delhi, India, 2009.

She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.^{[citation needed]} When the BJP-led NDA formed a government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she took the office of the Leader of Opposition. As Leader of Opposition, she called a no-confidence motion against the NDA government led by Vajpayee in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

She holds the record of having served as Congress President for 10 years consecutively.^{[citation needed]}

2004 elections and aftermath[link]

In the 2004 general elections, Gandhi launched a nationwide campaign, criss-crossing the country on the Aam Aadmi (ordinary man) slogan in contrast to the 'India Shining' slogan of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance. She countered the BJP asking "Who is India Shining for?". In the election, she won by a large margin in the Rae Bareilly constituency. Following the unexpected defeat of the NDA, she was widely expected to be the next Prime Minister of India. On 16 May, she was unanimously chosen to lead a 15-party coalition government with the support of the left, which was subsequently named the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

The defeated NDA protested once against her 'foreign origin' and senior NDA leader Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head and "sleep on the ground", among other things, should Sonia become prime minister.^[7] The NDA also claimed that there were legal reasons that barred her from the Prime Minister's post.^[35] They pointed, in particular, to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, which they claimed implied 'reciprocity'. This was contested by others^[29] and eventually the suits were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India.^[36]

A few days after the election, Gandhi appointed Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Her supporters compared it to the old Indian tradition of renunciation,^[37] while her opponents attacked it as a political stunt.^[38]

UPA Chairperson[link]

Sonia Gandhi speaking at World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2006

On 23 March 2006, Gandhi announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and also as chairperson of the National Advisory Council under the office-of-profit controversy and the speculation that the government was planning to bring an ordinance to exempt the post of chairperson of National Advisory Council from the purview of office of profit. She was re-elected from her constituency Rae Bareilly in May 2006 by a margin of over 400,000 votes.

As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA, she played an important role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act into law.^[39][40]

She addressed the United Nations on 2 October 2007, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary which is observed as the international day of non-violence after a UN resolution passed on 15 July 2007.^[41]

Under her leadership, India returned the Congress-led-UPA to a near majority in the 2009 general elections with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister. The Congress itself won 206 Lok Sabha seats, which was the highest total by any party since 1991.

Personal life[link]

Sonia Gandhi in 2009

Sonia is the widow of late Rajiv Gandhi, elder son of Indira Gandhi. She is a practising Christian.^[42] There has been considerable media speculation for over a decade about their future role in the Congress. After a period of uncertainty, both Rahul and Priyanka became primary members of the Congress party. While Priyanka has so far restricted herself to organising her mother's election campaigns and taking care of Sonia's constituency, Rahul Gandhi has gone on to take formal charge as General Secretary of the Congress Party. He is also currently head of the Youth Congress.

In August 2011, she underwent a successful surgery for some ailment in the US. It has been widely speculated in the media that the surgery took place at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Newspapers reported that she returned^[43] to India on 9 September after her treatment.

Honours, awards and international recognition[link]

Gandhi was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine in the year 2004^[44] and was ranked 6th in 2007.^[45] In 2010, Gandhi ranked as the ninth most powerful person on the planet by Forbes Magazine.^[46] She was also named among the Time 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007^[47] and 2008.^[48] The British magazine New Statesman listed Sonia Gandhi at number 29 in their annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures" in the year 2010.^[49]

Portrayals and coverage in books[link]

Books[link]

• Sonia Gandhi – An Extraordinary Life, An Indian Destiny (2011), a biography written by Rani Singh.

See also[link]

• List of political families
• List of Italians

References[link]