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| 'Maya Memsahib' stirs up her foes | | |
BL KAK
NEW DELHI, May 15
The new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Mayawati, has herself emboldedned her political foes, just within one day after capturing the hot seat in Lucknow's Secretariat. On the eve of her party's big success in the Assembly polls, Mayawati--'Maya Memsahib' to many in and outside UP--had declared that she would "send all criminals to jail". And immediately after she was sworn in as the Chief Minister, she created a history of sorts: One of her hand-picked Ministers is already in jail, while 10 others face criminal charges.
The cat was out of the bag when the name of Anand Sen Yadav was announced as among the 19 Ministers of State with independent charge. It was only after he failed to show up for the swearing-in on May 13 that it was discovered that he was in jail. Yet another leaf was added to the far-from-encouraging history: As soon as various TV channels flashed the news that Yadav has been appointed a Minister in the Bahujan Samaj Party government, the jail authorities hastily pulled him out of prison and got him admitted to a local hospital in Faizabad under the pretext that he was unwell.
Anand Sen Yadav, who got elected from Milkipur in Faizabad district, is the son of Mitrasen Yadav, the BSP MP from Faizabad who figures in the list of accused in the human trafficking scandal. There are at least eight others in the 49-member Mayawati Ministry who face charges for major or minor criminal offences, according to Election Watch, a non-governmental organisation. One of them is Badshah Singh, who faces a dozen criminal cases, including of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, kidnapping and rioting.
When a scribe sought his comments on the cases, Badshah Singh retorted: “It is not just a dozen; there are at least three dozen criminal cases registered against me”. According to intelligence reports, Singh, dreaded for his reputation in Hamirpur district in south Uttar Pradesh, is known as a brazen and arrogant politician whose actions always reflect his scant respect for the law.
Another 'Honourable Minister' with criminal track record is Awadh Pal Singh Yadav. Nor is all all. Nearly half a dozen other new Ministers too are tainted, but their offences are relatively minor in nature. They include Jamuna Nishad, Sangram Singh, Shazul Islam Ansari, Ramveer Upadhaya, Thakur Jaiveer Singh and Daddu Prasad.
Ironically, even as BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) chief Mayawati’s ride to power was due to her stress on teaching outlaws a lesson of their lives, the party did not desist from fielding 131 such candidates in the electoral fray.
As many as 63 of these figured in the BSP’s list of 206 who romped home to create history of forging the first single-party majority government in 16 years.
According to a study carried out by the Election Watch, headed by former Director-General of Police, I C Dwivedi, 33 of the newly elected ruling party legislators were facing two or more criminal cases. Six of them face charges of heinous crimes including murder, rape, attempt to murder and kidnapping. In terms of sheer numbers, the BSP has the highest number of candidates elected with criminal antecedents while in percentage terms the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav tops the list.
Chief Election Commissioner, N Gopalaswamy, has also said that the problem in both Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is that the large number of candidates with criminal antecedents are found fighting elections.
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