March 24, 2001
The Incomparable Lady - Km Mayawati
Uncommon
Courage
Km
Mayawati is having many qualities that makes her the Incomparable Lady. To my
mind the greatest appears to be her Uncommon Courage. In one of the public
meeting in the Ram Lila Ground of Delhi, she declared that she had decided to
dedicate her entire life to the cause of the wretched people amongst whom she
was born. The audience clapped, but it was not liked by her father. He wanted
his daughter to lead a comfortable life. She opted for the movement initiated by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, later
taken further by Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and made an all India affair by Baba
Saheb Ambedkar. At that point of time, Kanshi Ram was trying to run the
Movement. Km Mayawati decided to join the Movement inspite of the opposition
from her father.
At that time, her courage was put to test.
Her father opposed her decision tooth and nail, so much so that she was forced
to leave the house. I was on tour. When I came back, I found her living in the
office, along with other office bearers. Being a Govt. School Teacher, she was
self supporting. We arranged a room for her, near to our Karol Bagh Office.
Early morning she was going to teach in the School, work in the office whole
day and go to study Law in the Law College in the evening. In such
circumstances she completed her Law Degree. Again her courage was put to test.
In the Movement, she was vehemently opposed by her seniors. She had to struggle
against them to survive in the Movement.
General
elections to the Parliament were held in Dec. 1984. She decided to contest.
There was no chance for anybody in the Bahujan Samaj Party to win that
election. Everybody advised her not to contest that election because as govt.
servant she was required to loose the job. Again her courage was put to test.
She picked up courage and left the job to fight that election. After that
election, she was jobless, but her seniors were safe in their job. Keeping her
condition in mind. I gave her support and more and more opportunities in the
organisation. In 1985, she was told to prepare the parliamentary seat of Bijnor
for the bye-election. She went from village to village and prepared the seat
well to increase the vote bank from 5700 votes to 65,000 within a period of one
year. Another bye-election in the nearby seat of Haridwar came next. She
prepared it so well that she came second to the ruling Congress Party. By
securing 1,36,000 votes she improved the vote bank of BSP 14 times, from 9,000
in the general election to 1,36,000 in the bye-election. I was happy with her
performance in these bye-elections. But her seniors became furious. They put
pressure on me for giving opportunity to Km Mayawati. So much so that most of
them left the movement. I do not know where they are today, where as Mayawati
kept improving along with the movement.
By
1993, BSP improved to share power in U.P. Mr. Mulayam Singh was made the Chief
Minister and Km Mayawati coordinator to run the alliance Govt. of U.P. I moved
all over India, to make the BSP a National Party by 1996. By carrying such a
heavy load, I became sick and was admitted in hospital in the month of May
1995. SP and BSP alliance was not having majority in the U.P. House. I
requested Mr. Narasimha Rao and Mr. V.P. Singh to lend support to our alliance
to make Mr. Mulayam Singh the C.M. of U.P. They had bad experience with him.
Therefore, they were reluctant to support him. On my assurance and request they
agreed to support him. Within a few months Mr. Mulayam Singh had broken their
parties. Therefore, they were putting pressure on me to change Mr. Mulayam
Singh.
On
one side I was under pressure to make changes in U.P. and on the other side I
was sick facing health problems. At that time, Mr. Jayant Malhotra was with us.
Km. Mayawati and Mr. Malhotra took me to Hospital. In the Hospital, Doctors
tested me thoroughly. On the basis of these tests Mr. Malhotra told Km.
Mayawati that Kanshi Ram was facing a serious problem. And because of such a problem
his father died in a London hospitals. Km. Mayawati became nervous. Many
thoughts might have came to her mind. "What will happen to her if Kanshi
Ram dies? Who will guide her? Who will help her in the movement?" The
nurse attending to me told me that Km. Mayawati was weeping outside my room. I
called Km. Mayawati inside the room and asked her, "Mayawati would you
like to be the CM of U.P.." She could not decline my words. She thought my
health problem had become serious. And that was why Kanshi Ram was uttering
something irrelevant. I convinced Km. Mayawati that I was in a position to make
her the CM of U.P.
I showed her all the relevant papers and told
her to go to Lucknow and hand over those papers to the Governor of U.P. He will
give the oath and majority will be tested within 15 days on the floor of the
house. The arrangement for winning the vote of confidence was already made. She
did that on 1st June, 1995. But at he night of 2nd June, Mulayam Singh created
problem for her and her courage was put to test for the last time in her
life. She survived and given oath on
3rd June, 1995.
During
her life so for her courage was put to test many times, with a common courage,
it was not possible for her to survive. She survived in the moment to become
the CM of U.P. twice, Member, Lok Sabha twice and Rajya Sabha once, only
because of uncommon courage. As CM of U.P. and as MP she had exhibited many
other qualities, but the quality of uncommon courage remains supreme.
(Kanshi Ram)
National
President
Bahujan Samaj Party