Vote for BSP

Dalit News

2014-10-23T23:21:00.000+05:30

Dalit family of 3 brutally murdered in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dalit-family-of-3-brutally-murder-in-ahmednagar-district-of-maharashtra-2028586

Dalit’s attempt to ply auto invites wrath of caste Hindus

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/dalits-attempt-to-ply-auto-invites-wrath-of-caste-hindus/article6517150.ece

Dalit boy brutally thrashed for entering temple in Bangalore

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/priest-thrashes-dalit-boy-bangalore-rudreshwara-swami-temple/1/397201.html

Dalit family of three hacked to death

http://www.asianage.com/mumbai/dalit-family-three-hacked-death-110

India: Triple murder of Dalit family in apparent caste violence in Maharashtra

http://sikhsiyasat.net/2014/10/23/india-triple-murder-of-dalit-family-in-apparent-caste-violence-in-maharashtra/

Mystery shrouds murder of Dalit couple, son

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Mystery-shrouds-murder-of-Dalit-couple-son/articleshow/44914151.cms

Interesting Pictures - Please Spread

2014-10-23T21:09:00.000+05:30

The American Experience of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

2014-10-21T20:52:00.000+05:30

Jagesh: The American Experience of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

Very few of India's leaders have been educated in America. In the British period, England and to a lesser extent France and Germany were the focal points for overseas study. Even today, when Indian students flock to America, their education is generally in the field of technology or science, and they do not enter politics. As far as I have been able to find out, only three men well known in public life have been thoroughly exposed to an American experience: Jay Prakash Narayan; the late Chief Minister of the Punjab, S. Pratap Singh Kairon; and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. An American inevitably wonders what effect his country has had on the lives and thinking of these men.

It is clear that J. P. Narayan' s direct contact with Amecican poverty during the Depression era and with American radical thinkers somewhat influenced the development of his socialist attitudes. It is possible that Kairon learned some of his expertise with mass politics from his interval in America. In the case of Dr. Ambedkar, the influence seems to be chiefly in developing his commitment to a pragmatic, flexible democratic system. Ambedkar spent the years from 1913 to 1916 at Columbia University in New York City. There is little material on his political thought from the pre-1913 period with which to compare his post-1916 writings, but even so I would like to suggest that the American experience did influence the thought and action of this unusually gifted and innovative son of Bharat.
B.R. Ambedkar entered the Graduate School of Columbia University in 1913 after graduating from Elphinstone College in Bombay. His patron was Sayajirao Gaikwad, Maharajah of Baroda. The Gaikwad was distinguished for his financial support of reform measures and had already assisted Ambedkar in securing his college education. Whose idea it was that Ambedkar should go to America is not clear. The Gaikwad was certainly amenable to sanctioning a stipend for Ambedkar' s study in America through the Baroda state Education Department. However, Ambedkar was 23 at the time and he seems to have been intellectually mature, with his interests already established. From the time of Jotiba Phule, there has been a sense of appreciation among the leaders of the Non-Brahman Movement for America' s effort to create an egalitarian democracy. Ambedkar was aware of this, and it is quite possible that he himself made the decision to go to America.

As a student at Columbia, Ambedkar explored as widely as possible the economic and social aspects of American development. He took an enormous number of courses ranging from the economics of American railways to American history, auditing what he could not take for credit. He seems to have exposed himself to as many of the top-ranking professors at Columbia as he could, whatever their field. Columbia at this time was in its Golden Age, and the list of men with whom Ambedkar studied represents a catalog of important early-20th-century American thinkers. John Dewey, James Shotwell, Edwin Seligman, James Harvey Robinson, Franklin Giddings, and Alexander Goldenweiser were all men of great importance in the development of American thought, and probably nowhere else could Ambedkar have received such a broad and deep exposure to an optimistic, expansive, pragmatic body of knowledge.

Interestingly enough, Ambedkar' s own original research at Columbia was concerned with Indian themes. In his primary field of economics, under the guidance of Edwin Seligman, he wrote a dissertation for his Ph.D. on The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India (published in 1925 by P.S. King and Company, London). His thesis was critical of the imperial British system and its harmful effect on Indian development. The other major publication coming out of the Columbia experience was a paper on "Castes in India, Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development, " given first in a seminar in Anthropology with Alexander Goldenweiser and published in May, 1917, in The Indian Antiquary. Both studies make it clear that although Ambedkar was gaining all he could from his educational opportunity in America, his attention was centered on using that knowledge to analyse the Indian situation.

Ambedkar' s paper on caste was not a diatribe against the iniquities of the caste system but rather an effort to present a theory of the development of the system. His two main points are significant. First, there was a basic, unified Indian culture. He wrote, "Ethnically all peoples are heterogeneous. It is the unity of culture that is the basis of homogeneity. Taking this for granted, I venture to say that there is no country that can rival the Indian peninsula with respect to the unity of its culture." Second, he denied that caste stratification arose through racial, color-related, or occupational factors. He stated that the caste system grew through a process by which other groups imitated the endogamy of the Brahman priest caste. There is no development of a theory of untouchability in the paper; that was to come late in Ambedkar' s life. These two premises, however, remained constant in his thought. His later theory of the development of untouchability and his work for the eradication of untouchability were based on these theories, i.e. that Indian culture was basically unified and basically valuable, and that caste inequalities were a social development without a racial origin.

It is difficult to say what effect the study of anthropology and sociology under Goldenweiser and others at Columbia had on Ambedkar. Certainly he felt such systematic study of society was valuable, for he instituted a Department of Sociology at Siddharth College in a day when Sociology was not usually offered in Indian colleges. Also, the sociological vocabulary lingered, and perhaps some of the concepts behind the American jargon. Shortly after returning from his study abroad, Ambedkar testifed to the Southborough Committee on Franchise, the group which was preparing the election procedure for the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms instituted in 1921. Ambedkar' s lengthy testimony before this body stressed the lack of "endosmosis&qu ot; or "like-mindedne ss" between Touchable and Untouchable – phrases evidently borrowed from American social analysis. Ambedkar' s solution was to educate and politicize the disadvantaged group into full use of popular assemblies so that the new political institutions would not continue the "hardships and disabilities entailed by the social system." Ambedkar may have observed the ethnic groups in New York, the Irish, Italians and Jews, gaining political power through unified political pressure. The early-20th-century American dream of social and political equality in the great melting pot was apparent in both academic circles and actual New York life during Ambedkar' s time at Columbia University. Both Ambedkar' s study and experience would have encouraged him to look beneath cultural differences for a basic national cultural unity and to look to the political process as the way in which different groups attained their proper place on the national scene.

A direct comparison between the Negroes of America and the Untouchables of India does not appear in Ambedkar' s writings. This is natural, since Ambedkar denied that there was a racial basis for untouchability. In contrast to the leaders of almost all other Untouchable movements, he refused to claim that Untouchables were "Adi-Dravida, " (the first Dravidians), or "Ad-Dharm, " (the first religion, i.e. pre-Aryan), but stressed that they were of the same racial background as other Indians. His observation of the obvious racial differences between Negro and white Americans and the segregation based on race in America may have heightened his belief that the Untouchables&# 39; way to equality lay in asking for political and educational privilege because of social discrimination, not because of a separate racial background.

Ambedkar' s understanding of the American situation was quite sophisticated. Jotiba Phule, as early as 1873, had dedicated his book Gulamgiri (slavery) to "the good people of the united States...for their sublime disinterested and self-sacrificing devotion in the cause of Negro Slavery." But Ambedkar noted the political expediency of Lincoln' s action in freeing the slaves. In his criticism of Mahatma Gandhi in What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (2nd edition published by Thacker and Company in 1942), he compared Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln, stating that both were concerned with freeing the depressed groups in their countries for the political reason of preserving national unity. This view of Lincoln' s Emancipation Proclamation now has currency among American Blacks, who no longer view the freeing of the slaves as "disinterested and self-sacrificing. " Although Ambedkar did.not identify with the American Negro in words, he understood their position well enough to anticipate their criticism of Lincoln. Ambedkar' s understanding of the reformer as politician was based on bitter experience, but it also reflects his grasp of comparative history. He did not borrow wholesale from the American experience, but he used his knowledge of American culture to analyze his own country' s social situation.

Although the study of economics was Ambedkar' s major interest in both the United States and in London, there was little scope for him to take action in his field in his public life in India. His stance was basically socialist, but he did not align himself with any socialist party except for specific election alliances. He admired a number of the economic measures taken by the Soviet Union to reform their economy, and at one time advocated state control of the land. But he also harshly criticized the political system of the Soviet Union, and he was not a Marxist. The theory that history was the result of economic forces held little meaning for him.

If Ambedkar had succeeded in becoming head of the Planning Commission (and it is probable that this was his wish), he might have developed some of his socialist ideas within the context of democracy. His chief economic measures, however, were limited to those taken while he was Member for Labour in the Viceroy' s Executive Council in the years before Independence. While holding the Labour Portfolio, he instituted a Tripartite Labour Conference to consider such matters as a Joint Labour Management committee and an Employment Exchange, and he attempted to institute social security measures for industrial workers. In these matters, both American and British policies offered some guide lines.

It is in the basis of Ambedkar' s politics that American influence seems strongest. Behind all of Ambedkar' s seeming separatism – separate political parties for the backward classes, special reservation of seats in political assemblies and in government jobs – there was a strong, unwavering belief in the power of democratic institutions to bring about social equality. India's case might demand special techniques not found in the West, but Ambedkar' s basic faith was in representative political bodies. It is too much to say that Ambedkar' s American experience created this belief, but it is clear that it strengthened it. John Dewey's thought especially was meaningful to Ambedkar, for it offered encouragement that educated and politically aware peoples could work out their own political destiny in a pragmatic way, pruning the useless and preserving the useful in their societies. In his Annihilation of Caste Ambedkar quotes John Dewey, "who was my teacher, and to whom I owe so much": "Every society gets encumbered with what is trivial, with dead wood from the past, and with what is positively perverse. As a society becomes more enlightened, it realizes that it is responsible not to conserve and transmit the whole of its existing achievements, but only such as make for a better future society." Direct references are few, but as late as 1954, Ambedkar wrote to a Scheduled Caste student then in London, asking him to go to the British Museum and copy out Dewey's book on democracy, then out of print, for use in an essay on democracy.

All his life Dr. Ambedkar worked to further the education of the deprived. Not only was his achievement in terms of numbers of institutions great, but those institutions were innovative in a way that John Dewey would have approved. Siddharth College, founded in Bombay, was a "morning college" which allowed poor students to go to classes before their daily work. And it stressed a student parliament, which allowed untold numbers of students to experience all the intricacies and methods of parlimentary democracy in a mock version of national politics. Dr. Ambedkar College at Aurangabad was founded in an area that had no educational institution at the higher level other than a teacher training college. It offered not only Liberal Arts, but also Law and Commerce in an area totally deprived of any such opportunity, and I have been told that Dr. Ambedkar' s wish was to add a department of Fine Arts so that Marathwada would not only have educational opportunity but a chance to develop the aesthetics of the long-dead but rich creative past revealed in the marvellously carved caves of Ajanta and Elora.

Another life-long belief of Dr. Ambedkar' s may have been reinforced by his contact with John Dewey and his observation of the American scene. Dr. Ambedkar held the most optimistic possible faith in the power of democracy. In spite of the difficulty of welding adherents who constituted a small minority into an effective political party, in spite of the flaws in the democratic process he must have observed on the American scene, he never seems to have even considered a Communist structure or any sort of authoritarian government a possible cure for India's ills. His belief that people could be educated into change, that total participation of all elements of society in the political process was essential, that parliamentary democracy was the only conceivable way for India to progress, seems to have been unshakable. In my opinion, his constant support of the democratic system greater strengthened India's commitment to this path.

There are other traces of American thought in Dr. Ambedkar' s philosophy. One that seems to me to be exceptionally important is his position on India's cultural and ethnic unity. His first writing on this appears in the paper he wrote for a year-long seminar in Anthropology with Columbia Professor Alexander Goldenweiser, that was later published in The Indian Antiquary for May, 1917, under the title "Castes in India, Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development. " In this paper, as we noted above, he denied that color or occupation had determined caste; he was very clear that India had a remarkably deep cultural unity, and that caste divisions were not created by "the conscious command of a Supreme Authority," but by "an unconscious growth in the life of a human society under peculiar circumstances. "
It should be remembered that in the 1920's, when Dr. Ambedkar began his work, there were several movements among the Depressed Classes to separate themselves from "Aryans. " A movement in the North was called Adi-Dharm (original religion), and one in the South was called "Adi-Dravida&q uot; (original Dravidians). Dr. Ambedkar' s insistence on cultural unity overcame this thrust for separatism. He referred to religious ideas to support this idea, not to the works of Manu but to the idea of Brahman, the universal divine principle, which he felt should have produced the most egalitarian society on earth. Dr. Ambedkar carried this idea of cultural unity into action when he founded his schools, his reform organizations and his political parties – not a single one was ever limited to his own caste or bore his caste name, and only one was expressly for Scheduled Castes, and that for purely political purposes. From the beginning, anyone in need, anyone with concern, could be a participant. From the beginning, any special treatment was seen as temporary, as a way to raise the standards of the deprived group so that it could participate on an equal basis.

In this matter of cultural unity, it may be that America' s influence was due to its own problems, its own separatism. Dr. Ambedkar must have observed the racial discrimination in America, and determined that India must avoid any such permanent separation. Here again, it seems to me that his stres on unity has contributed greatly to India's ideal of cultural integration.

I have mentioned practicality and pragmatism, but I do not mean to imply by these terms that Dr. Ambedkar was a "practical politician." He actually was far more statesman than politician, and I have felt at times that he could not pay enough attention to organization, to detail. As a statesman, however, his idealism, his vision, was mixed with a down-to-earth pragmatism that is the mark of any successful movement. As an example, he put aside some of his visionary ideas (government ownership of land, for instance) in order to help India create a viable, widely accepted Constitution. Anyone who reads his "draft constitution" written in the late 1940's, and then traces his leadership of the process of writing a constitution and notes the final result, will be struck by the difference in what he first thought was right and what he finally approved as India's need at that time. I have talked to Scheduled Caste leaders who felt Dr. Ambedkar was too much of a statesman, not enough of a politician. My own feeling is that leadership of his calibre is still needed, that his combination of vision and pragmatism will influence India's direction long after the current generation has left the scene.

When I look at the new thrusts of India's Scheduled Castes – the commitment of many to an ethical and inclusive Buddhism; the urge to write poetry and fiction and drama that communicates on a high literary plane to all men; the efforts, however ineffective they may seem at this time; to play a real role in politics; this effort of those who live in America to show commitment and concern for their homeland – and when I see how much of this pride and hope and dynamic can be traced back to Babasaheb Ambedkar, I am proud to honor the memory of a very great man.

डॉ. अम्बेडकर की 22 प्रसिद्ध प्रतिज्ञाएँ

2014-10-20T18:51:00.000+05:30

डॉ. अम्बेडकर की 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ

डा बी.आर. अम्बेडकर ने दीक्षा भूमि, नागपुर, भारत में ऐतिहासिक बौद्ध धर्मं में परिवर्तन के अवसर पर,15 अक्टूबर 1956 को अपने अनुयायियों के लिए 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ निर्धारित कीं.800000 लोगों का बौद्ध धर्म में रूपांतरण ऐतिहासिक था क्योंकि यह विश्व का सबसे बड़ा धार्मिक रूपांतरण था.उन्होंने इन शपथों को निर्धारित किया ताकि हिंदू धर्म के बंधनों को पूरी तरह पृथक किया जा सके.ये 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ हिंदू मान्यताओं और पद्धतियों की जड़ों पर गहरा आघात करती हैं. ये एक सेतु के रूप में बौद्ध धर्मं की हिन्दू धर्म में व्याप्त भ्रम और विरोधाभासों से रक्षा करने में सहायक हो सकती हैं.इन प्रतिज्ञाओं से हिन्दू धर्म,जिसमें केवल हिंदुओं की ऊंची जातियों के संवर्धन के लिए मार्ग प्रशस्त किया गया, में व्याप्त अंधविश्वासों, व्यर्थ और अर्थहीन रस्मों, से धर्मान्तरित होते समय स्वतंत्र रहा जा सकता है. प्रसिद्ध 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ निम्न हैं:

१. मैं, ब्रम्हा, विष्णू और महेश इनको भगवान नहीं मानूंगा तथा इनकी उपासना नहीं करुंगा।
२. मैं, राम और कृष्ण इनको भगवान नही मानूंगा तथा इनकी उपासना नहीं करुंगा।
३. मैं, गौरी, गणपती आदि हिंदूधर्म की किसी भी देवी या देवताओं को नहीं मानूंगा तथा इनकी उपासना नहीं करुंगा।

४. मैं, भगवान ने कभी अवतार लिया इस पर मैं विश्वास नहीं रखता।
५. बुद्ध यह विष्णू का अवतार है इस पर मेरा विश्वास नही है, यह जान-बुझकर किया गया झुठा प्रचार है ऐसा मैं मानता हुँ।
६. मैं, श्राद्ध पक्ष नही करुंगा तथा पिंड-दान नही करुंगा।
७. मैं, बुद्ध के तत्वों और शिक्षा का भंग हो ऐसा आचरण नहीं करुंगा।
८. मैं, ब्राम्हणों द्वारा किए जाने वाले किसी भी धर्मानुष्ठान को अनुमति नही दूंगा।
९. मैं, मानव की समानता में विश्वास रखुंगा।
१०. मैं, समता प्रस्थापित करने में प्रयत्न करुंगा।
११. मैं, बुद्ध के “आर्य अष्टांगिक मार्ग” का पालन करुंगा।
१२. मैं, बुद्ध द्वारा बतायी गई “पारमिताओं” का पालन करुंगा।
१३. मैं, सभी सजीवों पर करुणा तथा दया करुंगा और उनकी रक्षा करुंगा।
१४. मैं चोरी नहीं करुंगा।
१५. मैं झुठ नहीं बोलुंगा।
१६. मैं, व्यभिचार नहीं करुंगा।
१७. मैं, शराब, मादक पेय जैसे नशीले द्रव्यों का सेवन नहीं करुंगा।
१८. मैं बौद्धधर्म के प्रज्ञा, शील तथा करुणा इन तीन तत्वों को अपनाकर अपना जीवन यापन करुंगा।
१९. मैं, हिंदूधर्म का परित्याग करता हुँ, जो असमानता पर आधारित होने के कारण मानवता के लिए हानिकारक और मानव की उन्नति और विकास में बाधक है, और अपने धर्म के रुप में बुद्ध धर्म का स्वीकार करता हुँ।
२०. केवल बुद्ध का धम्म ही सत्य धर्म है ऐसा मेरा दृढ़ विश्वास है।
२१. यह (धर्मांतरण से) मेरा पुनर्जन्म हो रहा है ऐसा मैं मानता हूँ।
२२. मैं विधिवत् तथा दृढ़तापूर्वक यह घोषणा करता हुँ कि मैं इसके बाद मेरा जीवन बुद्ध और उनके धम्म के तत्वों तथा शिक्षा के अनुसार बिताऊंगा।

Dr. Ambedkar and more books - Read in Hindi Now...

2014-10-19T18:47:00.000+05:30

Now Read in Hindi from these link...

दलितों का गौरवमयी इतिहास

बुद्ध और उनका धम्म - डॉ. बी आर अम्बेडकर

डॉ. बी आर अम्बेडकर द्वारा 22 प्रतिज्ञाएँ

सुत्तसार [पाली त्रिपिटक (तिपिटक) से]

त्रिपिटक सम्बन्धी विपश्यना रिसर्च इंस्टिट्यूट द्वारा हिंदी प्रकाशन

बुद्धं शरणम गच्छामि ! धम्मं शरणम गच्छामि ! संघम शरणम गच्छामि !
जय भीम ! जय बुद्ध ! जय भारत !
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity !
Educate, Agitate and Organize !

BSP chief Mayawati slams Centre, UP government over law and order situation

2014-10-19T18:22:00.000+05:30

BSP chief Mayawati slams Centre, UP government over law and order situation

BSP President Mayawati on Friday charged the BJP government at the Centre and Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh of failing to provide a peaceful atmosphere to the people.

"At the national stage, the BJP government and in the state, the Samajwadi Party government have totally failed to provide a peaceful, harmonious and just atmosphere to the people," Mayawati was quoted as saying at a BSP meet in a release here.

"There appears to be a competition going on between Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre and SP government in the state as to who can mislead the people by making tall claims.

"Both governments led by BJP and SP appear to be completely passive and lax about the welfare of crores of dalits, backwards, minorities especially Muslims and poor among the upper castes which is not in national interest," she said.

Mayawati who was addressing a meeting of senior party leaders and office bearers of Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand units, which had been overhauled recently, said that now the main opposition parties as well as the common people are agreeing to what the BSP had been saying about prevailing "jungle raj" and dismal law and order under the SP government.

"The constitutional traditions and law are being flouted ...Crime control and law and order is very bad, officials are locking horns with each other, corruption is rampant and common people are being harassed," she said, adding that power crisis has made things more difficult for the people.

Reiterating her party's demand, Mayawati said that Governor Ram Naik has himself aired his views on the bad state of affairs in the state several times but this is not the real remedy of the problems.

"Therefore, the BSP makes a renewed demand from the Governor to make the Centre aware of the ground situation in the state in writing, recommending President's rule to fulfil his constitutional duty," she said, adding that otherwise BJP would be equally responsible alongwith the SP in the eyes of the suffering people.

Mayawati who also issued directives to the leaders of both the states for increasing party's support base among the sarv samaj and organisational matters, said that the situation in Uttarakhand with regard to law and order and development under the Congress government also does not appear to be any better.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-bsp-chief-mayawati-slams-centre-up-government-over-law-and-order-situation-2026882

BSP to start Punjab Bachao Abhiyaan from November 1

2014-10-19T18:18:00.000+05:30

BSP to start Punjab Bachao Abhiyaan from November 1 -

In a state-level protest march by the BSP under the leadership of their state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri, it was announced on Friday that the party would start ‘Punjab Bachao Abhiyaan’ from November 1, and drug addiction in the state would be the main issue.

The rally was taken out from Dana Mandi, Jalandhar Bypass. Later, the BSP leaders went to the DC office to give a memorandum addressed to the Punjab Governor.

Karimpuri said that the main issue was rising atrocities against Dalits. He raised the suicide case of Dr Supriya, who was a PG resident at DMCH, and the killing of brothers in Jamalpur. He added that complaints had also come from Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Sangrur, Phagwara and many other areas.

He expressed his concern over conversion of 125 seats of MBBS in ST quota into general category. Prominent among other leaders were Balwinder Kumar and Balwinder Bitta.

See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ludhiana/bsp-to-start-punjab-bachao-abhiyaan-from-november-1/#sthash.eiFkrV4J.dpuf

BSP won 1 seat in Haryana

2014-10-19T16:41:00.000+05:30

Many Congratulations!

BSP got around 4.4%, i.e. 542683 votes and came at 5th position in Haryana.

Behan Mayawati in Nagpur

2014-10-18T02:35:00.001+05:30

Dikshabhoomi visit by Mayawati

Mayawati to campaign in Punjab on Jan 21-22 - Hindustan Times

2012-01-07T23:04:00.000+05:30

Mayawati to campaign in Punjab on Jan 21-22 -

BSP Supremo Mayawati will address four rallies in Punjab on January 21 and 22 to woo voters, even as the party hopes to fare better in the state assembly elections on January 30.

BSP MP and national general secretary Narender Kashyap said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister will address rallies at Kharar in Mohali and in Nawanshahar on January 21.

On the next day, she will address meetings in Muktsar and at Chhapar in Sangrur districts.

Kashyap said his party would make significant gains in the Punjab polls.

The party released a list of 21 candidates in addition to the names for 90 candidates announced earlier for the 117-member House.

More at http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Chandigarh/Mayawati-to-campaign-in-Punjab-on-Jan-21-22/Article1-791676.aspx

F1 race: Mayawati, Jaypee show Delhi, Gurgaon how to get it right

2011-10-31T18:11:00.000+05:30

In many ways, the much maligned Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, who lent her quiet support to the event, the F1 circuit builder Jaypee Group and the Greater Noida administration not only salvaged some of India's prestige , but also held out a lesson to the babus of Delhi and Gurgaon where multiple authorities and myriad permissions often throttle attempts to hold international events.

More on http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/mayawati-jaypee-show-delhi-gurgaon-how-to-get-it-right/articleshow/10550170.cms

Mayawati bursts Narendra Modi's economic growth myth

2011-10-30T05:23:00.000+05:30

"NEW DELHI: Gujarat is the flag-bearer of economic growth in recent years and Uttar Pradesh a laggard turns out to be a myth. Both the states have more or less matched the national average over the last five years.

Among the six poll-bound states -Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa, UP and Gujarat - Uttarakhand and Punjab top the growth charts. Uttarakhand has seen its net state domestic product (NSPD) grow by 103% and Punjab has witnessed 86% growth as compared to Gujarat (79%), Goa (77%), UP (76%) and Manipur (51%). The Indian economy grew by 77% during this period."

UP's NSDP at current prices was pegged at Rs 2, 56, 000 crore in 2005-06. At the end of 2009-10, it had reached Rs 4, 53, 000 crore. The Mayawati-ruled state has performed on a par with Narendra Modi's Gujarat, which saw its economy expand from Rs 2 lakh crore in 2005-06 to Rs 3.70 lakh crore last year.

The BSP supremo has been able to keep pace with showpiece UPA-ruled states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as well. The economic expansion in Maharashtra was 78% during this period, while Andhra Pradesh accounted for 79%.

Among the bigger states, the top three were all ruled by the Opposition. Bihar clocked 110%, Chhattisgarh (104%) and Left Front-ruled West Bengal matched Uttarakhand's 103%. Gujarat was ranked 12th among the the bigger states, taking sheen off Modi's tall claims.

UP's performance in raising the per capita income was also commendable. The per capita income of the state rose 64% in the five years till last year as against Gujarat (69%), Maharashtra (78%) and Andhra Pradesh (79%).

The growth in per capita income of BJP-ruled Uttarakhand has been the highest among poll-bound states at 91%, followed by Punjab (73%) and Manipur (40%). Instability in Uttarakhand and change of leadership made little dent in its economic expansion.

Despite the considerable improvement over the last five years, UP's per capita income remains at about half the national level of Rs 46,500 in 2010. Punjab at Rs 62,000 and Uttarakhand (Rs 55,800) are well above the national average. Ditto for Gujarat at Rs 63,900.

More on http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-22/india/30310179_1_capita-income-poll-bound-states-uttarakhand

Walk The Talk - Interview with Behan Mayawati Ji

2011-10-25T10:51:00.000+05:30

Growth in Mayas UP on par with Guj

2011-10-23T15:54:00.000+05:30

"Underfed kids mar Guj record: Report

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Despite impressive growth,Gujarat has not been able to reduce malnourishment levels while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have done better in improving the lot of its marginalized dalits and tribals,says the India Human Development Report (HDR) 2011 released by the Centre on Friday.
With 69.7% kids up to age 5 anaemic and 44.6% suffering from malnutrition,Gujarat is among the worst performers,says the report.

Growth in Mayas UP on par with Guj

Uttar Pradesh grew on a par with Gujarat and kept pace with the national average in the past five years.Mayawati-ruled UPs economic growth was 76%;Gujarat grew 79%.The India average was 77%.P 13

The power of Mayawati’s park: Colossal, but not a waste | Firstpost

2011-10-20T12:44:00.000+05:30

By Shiv Visvanathan

The political pundits have dismissed Mayawati’s Rs 684 crore Noida park as a colossal waste. It is colossal but it is not wasted. Her idea of monumentality demands excess and exaggeration. Power has to symbolise conspicuous waste. Narendra Modi does it one way, the Congress does it another way. All Mayawati is effectively saying is I can do it bigger and better.

Mayawati’s search for monumentality is interesting. The Indian democratic state hardly builds monuments except as PWD structures. Our great monuments are either Mughal or colonial, as witnessed by the Taj, Red Fort or Lutyens’ Delhi. Our idea of memory does not extend to monuments."

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-power-of-mayawati%E2%80%99s-park-colossal-but-not-a-waste-108592.html#.Tp1eabowq-k.facebook

Development in Uttar Pradesh - Thanks to BSP and Behan Mayawati Ji

2011-10-17T15:50:00.000+05:30

Congress scared of my Dalit following: Mayawati

2011-10-16T10:40:00.000+05:30

"Asserting that not a single Dalit vote will shift to the Congress or any other party not only in Uttar Pradesh but in any other part of India, she said the Congress had no place for Dalit icons and had ignored them during its long rule.

Referring to the various memorials dedicated to leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi on the western bank of the Yamuna river, she said she had set up memorials to Dalit leaders and icons on the eastern bank. The message was clear: if the west bank belongs to the Congress, the east bank was the BSP's."

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2537979.ece

The four challenges Mayawati has thrown at us in Noida | Firstpost

2011-10-16T10:34:00.000+05:30

"The inauguration of the Rs 685 crore, state-funded Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday has been misread by almost all analysts.

The focus of the attacks on Mayawati have been on the size of expenditure involved and use of state funds for a private political project. But in Dalit politics, this is almost a non-issue. More important is the symbolism and challenges it throws up for Indian politics and society."

Mayawati has flung four challenges at us – and at herself – by inaugurating her 84-acre memorial.

Challenge No 1 is her not-so-covert attempt to make neo-Buddhism a key state project, overturning the general neutrality of the state in religious projects.

The 84-acre Dalit Prerna Sthal and Green Garden is not exactly a religious shrine funded by the state – though there is a Buddha statue and we heard lots of Buddhist chanting in Friday’s ceremony – but the 84-acre Dalit heroes memorial and garden is reminiscent of kings of yore building triumphant temples and mosques to mark their victories and glory.

As Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit writer said at a TV show the other night, the Sthal is Mayawati’s attempt to challenge the Hindu caste system and ethos pervading Uttar Pradesh (Ayodhya, Kashi, Varanasi) and paint it in Buddhist hue.

Challenge No 2 is the clear political goal of Mayawati: Delhi next. Of course, she still has the Uttar Pradesh elections to win next year, but the key to that election lies in raising Dalit sights further, since her performance in the state has – at best – been patchy. Raising the stakes helps her flock focus on bigger things instead of the non-delivery of any significant improvement in their lives.

Anything Mayawati does is done kingsize. Naresh Sharma

The symbolism of the Sthal is also in its location. Noida overlooks Delhi and is part of the National Capital Region. The location of the Ambedkar park here is indication of Mayawati’s way of saying: “My eyes are on Delhi.”

The Sthal, which hosts 15 statues of Dalit icons BR Ambedkar, Jyotirao Phule and Kanshi Ram apart from Mayawati herself, is a symbol of the Dalit challenge to the current caste dispensation.

Mayawati’s speeches also reflected the same aggression. She castigated Sonia Gandhi for refusing to help her with her CBI cases. She pre-empted the possibility of the Congress placing a Dalit like Meira Kumar in the top job just to fools Dalits. She blasted LK Advani for not starting his anti-corruption yatra in Karnataka, scene of a major illegal mining scam.

Challenge No 3 is shock and awe. Anything Mayawati does is done kingsize. She makes no bones about the size of her birthday cake. She wants expensive cars in her cavalcade. And she is brazen about her use of state funds for party and private purposes – as the erection of 20 statues of her party’s election symbol – the elephant – in Noida and other Ambedkar parks in Uttar Pradesh suggest.

If any other party had done the same thing, there would have been a hue and cry. Sure, parties opposing Mayawati have indeed kicked up a fuss about it. But this is precisely what she wants. When everyone attacks her, the Dalits have no option but to support her.

For Narendra Modi in Gujarat, the more the opposition attacks him personally, the more he consolidates his Hindu vote. This is what Maya is counting on with the Dalit vote, in which Rahul Gandhi is trying to make a dent.

By doing things of huge scale, she is also trying to overawe her Dalit vote and project power – which may go down well with the powerless. To the disempowered Dalit, the fact that Mayawati can cock a snook at her detractors among the upper castes is a matter of pride, not regret.

Challenge No 4 is her political caste combo. The Mayawati coalition is the exact inverse of the Congress coalition before the Babri-Ram Janmabhoomi agitation. The old Congress had the upper castes leading a Dalit and minority combo. Mayawati is going for the same combo with the Dalit on top and Brahmins playing second fiddle in Uttar Pradesh.

The hard act to follow is how she is going to attract the Muslim vote – or even retain the Brahmin and upper caste vote. The Buddha’s main focus of attack was a Brahminical system gone berserk in his time. But the overt return to the Buddha through Ambedkarite neo-Buddhism is not going to be easy to pull off in her current coalition. Neither Brahmins nor Muslims will be comfortable with this assertion.

But she is trying nevertheless.

In a few months time we will know if her strategy works. But no one can accuse her of pusillanimity.

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-four-challenges-mayawati-has-thrown-at-us-in-noida-108558.html

Greatness of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar -- A complete film by J. Patel

2011-10-12T01:17:00.000+05:30

Important Speech of Saheb Kanshi Ram Ji -- Part 4 (Final Part)

2011-10-11T23:44:00.000+05:30

Important Speech of Saheb Kanshi Ram Ji -- Part 3

2011-10-11T23:43:00.002+05:30

Important Speech of Saheb Kanshi Ram Ji - Part 2

2011-10-11T23:43:00.001+05:30

Important speech of Saheb Kanshi Ram Ji - Part 1

2011-10-11T23:43:00.000+05:30

The Noida park will be opened by the chief minister Mayawati on October 14

2011-10-11T23:40:00.000+05:30

"A 100-foot long pillar has been installed inside the park. It has apparently been designed as a symbol of national integrity. Apart from statues of Mayawati and Ambedkar, those of Kabeer Das from UP, Birsa Munda from Jharkhand, Guru Ghasidas from Chattisgarh, Jyotiba Phule from Maharashtra and Narayan Guru from Kerala too have been installed. "

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/At-Mayas-dream-park-her-family-at-home/articleshow/10307560.cms

Transcript of an interview with Saheb Kanshiram -

2011-10-10T00:11:00.001+05:30

Transcript of an interview with Saheb Kanshiram -

QUESTION: Why are you so hostile to all the national parties, especially the communists?

KANSHI RAM: To my mind, all parties represent the forces of status quo. For us, politics is the politics of transformation. The existing parties are the reason for the status quo. That is why there has been no upward mobility for the backward communities. The communist parties have become the biggest stumbling block in this regard. They keep talking about change, but work for status quo. The BJP is better, they never talk about change. So people never feel duped. Parties like the Congress and communists talk about abolishing poverty, but work towards keeping people poor. If the poor are not kept poor, these people cannot remain in their seats.

QUESTION: At the Congress centenary, Arun Singh said your emergence was not healthy for the national ethos.

KANSHI RAM: He is the grandson of a maharaja who never kept the interests of the nation in mind. Nationalism to him is feudalism. NATIONALISM TO ME IS THE MASSES OF INDIA. I BELIEVE IN THE TWO NATION THEORY: THOSE WHO OPPRESS AND THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED .What does the grandson of a wretched maharaja know about nationalism? What can we expect from Arun Singh than such things?

QUESTION: Why is your cadre so hostile to Mahatma Gandhi?

KANSHI RAM: Gandhi is the root of every thing. I want change. Dr. Ambedkar wanted change. But Gandhi was the custodian of the status quo. He wanted Shudras to remain Shudras .Gandhi worked to keep the nation divided .We are working to unite the nation and erase all artificial divisions.

QUESTION: Why has your movement taken so much time to become a reality?

KANSHI RAM: Upto 1971, I was not so much interested. I was working with RPI .Then I found I was marching towards a ship that others were deserting .It took a long time to prepare myself and others . We had to collect a lot of information, so that we could know how to prepare society and build a cadre. Preparing society initially took a long time. Now we are moving at a tremendous speed. Next year when you meet me, you will ask me how we have acquired such a speed.

QUESTION: How can you abolish caste by floating a casteist party?

KANSHI RAM: The BSP is not a casteist party. If we are uniting 6000 castes, how can you call us casteist?

QUESTION: I believe your party is off-limits to the upper castes.

KANSHI RAM: The upper castes say why not include us. I say you are leading all the parties. If you join our party, you will blick change here also .THE UPPER CASTES CAN JOIN THE PARTY, BUT THEY CANNOT BE ITS LEADERS .LEADERSHIP WILL REMAIN IN THE HANDS OF THE BACKWARD COMMUNITY. My fear is that these upper caste people will come into our party and block the process of change .When this fear goes, they can join our party.

QUESTION: What is your constituency?

KANSHI RAM: I REPRESENT THE CONSTITUENCIES OF BABU JAGJIVAN RAM AND CHAUDHARY CHARAN SINGH. AND MAY BE TO SOME EXTENT, SAYED SHAHABUDDIN.

QUESTION: Politicians we spoke to in Delhi say that if the BSP gets too belligerent they will finish you politically.

KANSHI RAM: WE WILL FINISH THEM .BECAUSE IF INDIRA CAN BE FINISHED BY A CHAMAR, ARE THESE FELLOWS GOING TO BE SAVED? WHEN WE ARE 90 PERCENT IN THE ARMED FORCES, 70 PER CENT IN THE BSF, 50 PER CENT IN THE CRPF AND THE POLICE, WHO CAN DO INJUSTICE TO US? A GENERAL NEEDS LESS BULLETS COMPARED TO JAWANS .THEY MAY HAVE GENERALS BUT NO JAWANS.

QUESTION: Are you advocating an eye for an eye?

KANSHI RAM: TWO EYES .I tell my followers Ek Eet Ka Jawab, Do Pathron Se ( you must retaliate for one brick with two stones ) , otherwise you are not my followers .

QUESTION: So you are propagating violence.

KANSHI RAM: I am propagating strength. To curb violence, I must have strength .Other than me, for instance nobody can crush the Shiv Sena. Any time I come to Maharashtra, I will finish them .The violence of Shiv Sena will end.

QUESTION: - How will you do that?

KANSHI RAM: - Who are the members of the Shiv Sena who burn and destroy? They are four castes: 1. Agari 2. Bhandari 3. Koli 4. Chamar. They are Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and most backward communities. As soon as I touch the Maharashtra, these people will instantly come with me.

QUESTION: - What makes you think that the BSP will not end up like the RPI? Bargaining for power with the ruling party.

KANSHI RAM: - The RPI never bargained. It was begging. It never reached the status of bargaining .I remember in 1971, the party struck an electoral alliance with the Congress to contest 521 seats .The Congress contested 520 seats, the RPI contested one seat. I love the RPI, but I hate being compared to it. It is like a cheap prostitute available at a pittance. As long as I am alive, this will not happen to the BSP. We want change .We don’t want alliances with the forces of status quo. If a government cannot be formed without our co-operation, then we will have our own conditions, for change. We want fundamental and structural changes, not cosmetic ones.

QUESTION: - There are rumours that you met Hazi Mastan Mirza at Gonda last November to solicit funds.

KANSHI RAM: - I have never met him anywhere. I have only seen his photograph .He may be paying other people, but not us. In fact he is being used against us. If anybody can prove that I have ever met him, I am prepared to face the highest punishment .Moreover, how much money Hazi Mastan can have? He is a very small man compared to me, as far as funds are concerned. If I only have funds like Hazi Mastan, how can I beat the Congress and other parties? How many crores can he give us?

QUESTION: - THERE IS SOME MYSTREY ABOUT THE SOURCES OF YOUR FUNDS.

KANSHI RAM: - My funds come from various sources which will not dry up. My funds come from those people who produce wealth. The Bahujan Samaj produces wealth. I get my money from them. Lakhs of my people spend crores going to festivals like the Kumbh Mela to improve their next birth. I tell them that Kanshi Ram does not know anything about the next life. But he is an expert in the present life.

Those interested in improving their next life , I tell them , must go to the Brahmins on the banks of the Ganga .Those interested in improving their present life must come to me . So they throng to my meetings.

QUESTION: - There is talk of your being sponsored by the CIA.

KANSHI RAM: - For so many years this government has been clapping about it. It distributed lakhs of pamphlets about this in Bijnore. But the result was that people became furious and could not be purchased. Babu Ji tried to purchase votes at Rs. 1000 each .But even those who used to be purchased at Rs.10 turned him down. And if I am a CIA man, why hasn’t this government taken any action against me? That shows it is a hijra (eunuch) government.

QUESTION: - They say you spent a lot of money on the Lucknow rally.

KANSHI RAM: -Rs. 22 lakhs were spent on hiring the buses alone .But I am angry. It should have been Rs. 22 crores .A time will come when people should spend Rs. 22 crores on my call .I don’t feel any dearth of money. If money is coming from a treasury, it will be extinguished. I am getting money from a perennial source of funds. I need only one crore rupees to win all the 542 parliamentary seats. One day, voters will queue up to pay money to Kanshi Ram. The next day, they will que up to vote for Kanshi Ram.

QUESTION: - Some of your party men have broken away from you.

KANSHI RAM: - You cannot keep all the people together. Some people may get tired. Some people may be purchased. Some may become frightened. This will be a permanent feature. It will not demoralise us. I have created a method where in a given time if 10 people go away , we will produce 110 people of the same caliber .Whom we dropped as deadwood , others are trying to pick up and burn a fire .They are trying to use them against us.

QUESTION: - You reiterate that you have never taken funds from a foreign source.

KANSHI RAM: - When I went to England two years ago, some people - there are seven lakh Chamars there - offered me funds. I decided not to take the money, though Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Buta Singh had taken money from the same source - the Guru Ravidass Gurdwara in Birmingham. They had given to Babu Ji also .I was the only person who didn’t accept.

QUESTION: - What Kind of change are you looking for?

KANSHI RAM: - I don’t want temporary changes. I am not prepared to attain what I cannot sustain .Let us attain whatever we can, but it must be retained and retained only by permanent change.

QUESTION: - And when do you intend to contest elections?

KANSHI RAM: - I will stand when there are 100 constituencies in India where I can get a walk over.

QUESTION: - How long will that take?

KANSHI RAM: - Two years at the most.