Meira Kumar, one of the senior Congress leaders was sworn in as the speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha on 3 June 2009. She was the unanimous choice of the ruling UPA and the Opposition NDA. She is the daughter of the Congress leader and the Deputy Prime Minister, late Mr. Jaggivan Ram. She had earlier left the Congress party due to differences with Sonia Gandhi the UPA Chairperson. However, she later returned to the fold. She is the first woman speaker of the country.
The 64 year old leader form Bihar is the first woman speaker of the country. It was the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi who proposed her name. Mr.Pranab Mukherji, the Finance Minister seconded it. Mrs. Mrs. Meira Kumar has been an IAF officer. She quit her diplomatic post and joined the Congress Party in 1985. She has been elected to the Lok Sabha five times. She was a Minister in late Mr.Narasimha Rao’s cabinet. She was the Social Welfare Minister in the last UPA government also.
Assuming charge as the Speaker Meira Kumar said that it was a gift to the women of India. She also vowed to uphold the dignity of the house as best as she could. She also said that she would do everything she could to see the Women’s Reservation Bill that promised 33% reservation for women through the Parliament.
The Deputy Speaker is the BJP leader Mr. Kariya Munda He had been elected to the Lok Sabha six times. He has served as a minister in Mr. Morarji Desai and Vajpayee cabinet. Karia Munda the Adivasi leader from Jharkhand.
With this both the Congress and the BJP have outwitted the Mrs. Mayavati who always claimed to be the sole leader of the Dalits. The recent elections to the Lok Sabha had already dashed her hope of becoming the first Dalit Prime Minister of India at least for the time being. Mayavati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that rules Uttar Pradesh could win only 20 seats. Everyone had expected it to win around 50 seats considering her great victory in the assembly elections in 2007.
Pundits had attributed her victory in 2007 to her ‘social engineering’. Till then she used to say that she was the leader of the Dalits. But at the time of the election she declared that she had nothing against the ‘Manuvadis’, i.e. the Brahmins. And she promised to provide jobs and reservations for the Brahmins who were economically backward. In the Lok Sabha election also Mayavati had given 29 seats to the upper castes. Out of it 20 were Brahmins.
Although the BSP was able to improve its position by one (it had 19 seats last time), it could not perform as expected. The main reason could be the absence of a common enemy for the voters. In 2007 almost all sections of people were disappointed by the Samajvadi Party and its leader Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav. The BJP had nothing of a chance. So Mayavati was able to unite the Dalits, the Extremely Backward Castes, poor Muslims and the Brahmins.
In 2009 the people had no common enemy to focus on. So the different castes moved apart and some of them voted for the Congress. This alone could explain the improvement the Congress exhibited. In 2004 the Congress had just nine seats. This time it won 21 seats. The much talked about concepts such as Sarvajan Samaj and the Dalit- Brahmin brotherhood failed to bring voters to the BSP’s fold.
Her performance as the Chief Minister of the state has been very disappointing. She has not kept any of the promises she had made to the backward castes and the Muslims during the 2007 election. It is not at all surprising that the Muslims drifted back to the Congress. Even the Brahmins seem to have drifted away from Mayavati.
Now that both the Congress and the BJP have checkmated Mayavati’s Dalit politics, she will have to chart out future course very carefully if she wishes to retain power in the state in the next election in Utter Pradesh.
The 64 year old leader form Bihar is the first woman speaker of the country. It was the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi who proposed her name. Mr.Pranab Mukherji, the Finance Minister seconded it. Mrs. Mrs. Meira Kumar has been an IAF officer. She quit her diplomatic post and joined the Congress Party in 1985. She has been elected to the Lok Sabha five times. She was a Minister in late Mr.Narasimha Rao’s cabinet. She was the Social Welfare Minister in the last UPA government also.
Assuming charge as the Speaker Meira Kumar said that it was a gift to the women of India. She also vowed to uphold the dignity of the house as best as she could. She also said that she would do everything she could to see the Women’s Reservation Bill that promised 33% reservation for women through the Parliament.
The Deputy Speaker is the BJP leader Mr. Kariya Munda He had been elected to the Lok Sabha six times. He has served as a minister in Mr. Morarji Desai and Vajpayee cabinet. Karia Munda the Adivasi leader from Jharkhand.
With this both the Congress and the BJP have outwitted the Mrs. Mayavati who always claimed to be the sole leader of the Dalits. The recent elections to the Lok Sabha had already dashed her hope of becoming the first Dalit Prime Minister of India at least for the time being. Mayavati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that rules Uttar Pradesh could win only 20 seats. Everyone had expected it to win around 50 seats considering her great victory in the assembly elections in 2007.
Pundits had attributed her victory in 2007 to her ‘social engineering’. Till then she used to say that she was the leader of the Dalits. But at the time of the election she declared that she had nothing against the ‘Manuvadis’, i.e. the Brahmins. And she promised to provide jobs and reservations for the Brahmins who were economically backward. In the Lok Sabha election also Mayavati had given 29 seats to the upper castes. Out of it 20 were Brahmins.
Although the BSP was able to improve its position by one (it had 19 seats last time), it could not perform as expected. The main reason could be the absence of a common enemy for the voters. In 2007 almost all sections of people were disappointed by the Samajvadi Party and its leader Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav. The BJP had nothing of a chance. So Mayavati was able to unite the Dalits, the Extremely Backward Castes, poor Muslims and the Brahmins.
In 2009 the people had no common enemy to focus on. So the different castes moved apart and some of them voted for the Congress. This alone could explain the improvement the Congress exhibited. In 2004 the Congress had just nine seats. This time it won 21 seats. The much talked about concepts such as Sarvajan Samaj and the Dalit- Brahmin brotherhood failed to bring voters to the BSP’s fold.
Her performance as the Chief Minister of the state has been very disappointing. She has not kept any of the promises she had made to the backward castes and the Muslims during the 2007 election. It is not at all surprising that the Muslims drifted back to the Congress. Even the Brahmins seem to have drifted away from Mayavati.
Now that both the Congress and the BJP have checkmated Mayavati’s Dalit politics, she will have to chart out future course very carefully if she wishes to retain power in the state in the next election in Utter Pradesh.
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