Mayawati
Kumari Mayawati is an Indian politician who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1995 to 1995, 1997 to 1997, 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, which focuses on a platform of social change for Bahujans, more commonly known as Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as religious minorities since 2003.
Mayawati had also served as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from 2012 to 2017 from Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati's rise from humble beginnings has been called a "miracle of democracy" by P. V. Narasimha Rao, former prime minister of India. In 1993, Kanshi Ram formed a coalition with the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1995. She was the first female Scheduled Caste chief minister in India. In 1997 and in 2002 she was chief minister with outside support from the Bharatiya Janata Party, the second time only for a year up to 26 August 2003 due to BJP withdrawing support.
Mayawati's tenure has attracted praise and criticism. Millions of Dalits across India popularly view her as an icon, and refer to her as Behen-ji. She has been praised for her fundraising efforts on behalf of her party and her birthdays have been widely celebrated by her supporters. On the contrary, the rise in her personal wealth and that of her party have been criticised as indicative of corruption.
Early life and education
Mayawati was born as Kumari Mayawati Das on 15 January 1956 at Shrimati Sucheta Kriplani Hospital, New Delhi. Her father Prabhu Das, was a post office employee at Badalpur village, near Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar. The sons in the family were sent to private schools, while the daughters went to "low-performing government schools".Mayawati studied for her B.A. in 1975 at the Kalindi College, University of Delhi and obtained her LL.B. from the prestigious Faculty of Law, University of Delhi in 1983. She completed a B.Ed. from Meerut University's VMLG College, Ghaziabad, in 1976. She was working as a teacher in Inderpuri JJ Colony, Delhi, and studying for the Indian Administrative Services exams, when Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Other backward castes politician Kanshi Ram visited her family home in 1977. According to biographer Ajoy Bose, Ram told her: "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." Kanshi Ram included her as a member of his team when he founded the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Mayawati was first elected to Parliament in 1989.
Early political career
Kanshi Ram founded the BSP in 1984. Influenced by B. R. Ambedkar, the party's primary focus is to improve the situation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other disadvantaged groups through policy reform, affirmative action on hiring of members of scheduled castes for government posts, and providing rural development programmes. Reservation in India is a system whereby a percentage of government positions and seats at universities are reserved for persons of backward classes and scheduled castes and tribes. Throughout her political career, Mayawati supported reservation in both government and private sectors for backward classes, with an increase in quotas and inclusion of more communities such as religious minorities and economically weak upper castes. In August 2012 a bill was cleared that starts the process of amending the constitution so that the reservation system can be expanded to promotions in state jobs. Mayawati's career has been called a "miracle of democracy" by former Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao. Millions of Dalit supporters view her as an icon and refer to her as "Behen-ji". Her public meetings have been attended by large audiences, who use slogans such as "Kanshi Ram ka mission Adhoora; karegi Behen Mayawati poora" and "Behenji tum sangharsh karo; hum tumhare saath hain".In its first election campaign in 1984, BSP fielded Mayawati for the Lok Sabha seat of Kairana in the Muzaffarnagar district, for Bijnor in 1985, and for Haridwar in 1987. In 1989 she was elected as the representative for Bijnor, with 183,189 votes, winning by 8,879 votes. Although BSP did not win control of the house, the electoral experience led to considerable activity for Mayawati over the next five years, as she worked with Mahsood Ahmed and other organisers. The party won three seats in the 1989 national election and two seats in 1991.
Mayawati was first elected to the Rajya Sabha of Uttar Pradesh in 1994. In 1995 she became, as head of her party, Chief Minister in a short-lived coalition government, the youngest Chief Minister in the history of the state up until that point, and the first female Dalit Chief Minister in India. She won election to the Lok Sabha in two different constituencies in 1996 and chose to serve for Harora. She became Chief Minister again for a short period in 1997 and then from 2002 to 2003 in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2001 Ram named her as his successor to the party leadership.
On 15 December 2001, in an address during a rally Lucknow, Kanshi Ram named Mayawati as his successor. She was elected national president of the BSP for her first term on 18 September 2003. She was elected unopposed for a second consecutive term on 27 August 2006.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
As the Chief Minister, Mayawati gained a reputation for efficient governance and promoting law and order, winning praise even from opposition parties and other rivals. In 2007, MP Umakant Yadav of her own political party, accused in a land grabbing case, was arrested near her dwelling on her orders. During September–October 2010, at the time of the Ayodhya verdict, her government maintained law and order and the state remained peaceful. Several high-profile criminals and mafia dons were jailed during her terms in office. She called for strong anti-rape laws. Fewer riots, lowest rapes, and least corruption occurred during her tenure as compared to previous or successive governments. In the 2007–2012 assembly, only 124 MLAs were crorepatis as compared to 271 crorepatis in successive assembly elected in 2012. Uttar Pradesh achieved higher GDP growth rate at 17 per cent and lesser crimes under Mayawati regime as compared to previous and successive governments.First term, 1995
Mayawati first served as Chief Minister from 3 June 1995 to 18 October 1995 with support of BJP. During this term, the new districts of Ambedkar Nagar district and Udham Singh Nagar district were created.Second term, 1997
Her second term was from 21 March 1997 to 20 September 1997. A drive under her government allotted pattas or gram sabha lands on lease to thousands of landless residents. In April 1997, she created Gautam Budh Nagar district from the district of Ghaziabad, Kaushambi district was separated from Allahabad district, and Jyotiba Phule Nagar district from Moradabad district. In May 1997, Mahamaya Nagar district was created out of Aligarh district and Banda district was split into Banda and Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar. Mayawati carried out review meetings with bureaucrats and suspended 127 officers. She set up the Dr Ambedkar Awards and erected over 100 statues of various sizes of Ambedkar in Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and other key towns.Her third term was from 3 May 2002 to 26 August 2003, in which she had the support of BJP. She suspended 12 IAS officers, including Divisional Commissioners and District Magistrates. Six IPS officers were suspended for failing to maintain law and order, while 24 officers were warned to improve. She started 511 acre Gautam Buddha University. She renamed King George's Medical University to Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University. She suspended three senior officials after review in a couple of administrative divisions.
Fourth term, 2007–12
, India's most populous state and one of its poorest, is considered pivotal in the politics of India because of its large number of voters. BSP won a majority in the 2007 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, due to support of Brahmans. The campaign was accompanied by a colourful slogan: Haathi nahin, Ganesh hain, Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh Hain: "The elephant is really the Lord Ganesha, the trinity of gods rolled into one". 37 per cent Brahmins voted for the party.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" into "Uttam Pradesh". Her government began a major crackdown on irregularities in the recruitment process of police officers recruited during the previous Mulayam Singh government. Over 18,000 policemen lost their jobs for irregularities in their hiring, and 25 Indian Police Service officers were suspended for their involvement in corruption while recruiting the constables. Mayawati instituted reforms to introduce transparency into the recruiting process, including posting the results of selection exams online.
On 10 August 2007, the Mayawati government proposed 30 per cent reservation in jobs in the private sector. A quota for promotions was also introduced, but was later quashed by the Supreme Court of India. In September 2007, Bhimrao Ambedkar Rural Integrated Development Programme was started. The Dr Ambedkar Gram Vikas Yojana scheme was launched for supplying water, electricity, and constructing roads in villages with a Dalit majority. Under this scheme, 24,716 villages received improvements.
In 2008, Mayawati launched, Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Shahri Garib Awas Yojna, a scheme for building low-cost housing colonies for urban poor with 90,000 low-cost homes under the first round of construction in different towns and cities across the state while a second and a third round were still underway when government ended in 2012 and next government scrapped the scheme including cutting down electricity of these colonies.
Mayawati government started efforts to set up solar power plants and the first 5 MW solar power plant located in Naini of Allahabad district started functioning in March 2012 and was developed by EMC Limited. UP government signed a MoU with NTPC Limited for 1,320-MW power plant. Mayawati's dream project of 165 km six lane Yamuna Expressway connected Delhi to Agra through Noida–Greater Noida Expressway, touching 1,182 villages in the state. Later, Indian Air Force fighter jet Dassault Mirage 2000 test-Landed on Yamuna Expressway as Part of Trials. On 15 January 2008, Mayawati inaugurated the construction of the 1,047 km Ganga Expressway at the cost of for joining Ballia to Greater Noida. In 2008, her government established Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University for the Physically challenged students. In November 2009, Mayawati dedicated Noida Metro constructed at the cost of. She had vigorously proposed for construction of Jewar airport near Noida. In October 2011, Mayawati government under public-private partnership with Jaypee Group successfully executed and delivered First F1 Indian Grand Prix, an international event at Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida constructed by Jaypee Group. The event was hailed as flawlessly conducted salvaging some of India's prestige when compared to minor embarrassments in 2010 Commonwealth Games conducted in Delhi. Mayawati presented the winning trophy to winner Sebastian Vettel. Foreigners found the track as 'impressive' and 3 Indian teenagers picked by a F1 panel to train them as future Formula One drivers in Europe.
Mayawati has seen through to completion of several memorials dedicated to icons of Bahujan Samaj build first time in India, including the Manyawar Shri Kanshiram Ji Green Eco Garden, the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden, and the Ambedkar Memorial Park. She renamed Amethi district as Chattrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar, Kanpur Dehat as Rambai Nagar, Sambhal as Bheem Nagar, Shamli as Prabuddha Nagar, Hapur as Panchsheel Nagar, Kasganj as Kanshiram Nagar, Hathras as Mahamaya Nagar and Amroha as JP Nagar.
Mayawati during her tenure directed all the Commissioners and the District Magistrates to distribute 3 acre land pieces or pattas to weaker sections of society by launching special drive for illegal possesses of pattas be dispossessed of them and the eligible poor be identified by regular monitoring of pattas and strict action against the mafias and musclemen through spot verification of different development and public welfare programmes. In 2010, 5596 people belonging to the SC and ST communities were allotted 1054.879 hectares of agriculture land. In a special drive 74 FIRs were filed and 88 people were arrested for illegal occupation from agricultural land. Sugar Information Service a model website supported by SMS and IVRS facility was developed. Mayawati dedicated the 286-bed super-specialty Centenary hospital in Lucknow and 50-bed critical care unit at CSMMU and increased salaries of doctors. Mayawati, in 2007, launched Manyawar Kanshiram Multi-speciality Hospital in Greater Noida which started its OPD services in April 2013. Mayawati government also spent on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Multi Speciality Hospital in Sector 30 of Noida.
Her government also instituted Sant Ravidas Kala Samman Award with a cash prize of. Under Savitri Bai Phule Balika Shiksha Madad Yojna, Mayawati distributed over 10 lakh bicycles among Muslim and poor school girls from 2008 to 2011.
After coming to power in 2007, Mayawati wrote letters to the Prime Minister regarding partitioning of Uttar Pradesh into four different states in 2007, in March 2008 and December 2009. Finally on 15 November 2011, Mayawati's cabinet approved partitioning Uttar Pradesh into four different states for better administration and governance.
On 6 March 2012 the Bahujan Samaj Party lost its majority to the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati tendered her resignation to the governor of Uttar Pradesh the next day, thereby becoming the first CM to complete five full years in office. On 13 March 2012 she filed nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha, and she was declared elected unopposed on 22 March.