J. S Rajput
It was a rare occasion when the entire Parliament of India stood in unison and condemned the use of derogatory language used against the BSP leader Mayawati by Dayashankar Singh, one of the now-sacked Vice-Presidents of the UP state Unit of the BJP. In spite of unconditional regrets expressed in the Parliament by the BJP leadership, Mayawati did not miss the chance of attacking the BJP at the end of the debate in Rajya Sabha. This was pure politics in which only Votes matter and no weightage is given to civil behavior, social responsibilities and code of ethics.
Dispassionately viewed, one could recall no other instance of such a swift action as the BJP achieved in removing Dayashankar from his party post, and subsequently, also from the party itself. It may be futile to expect adherence to a value-based approach from those who created a place for themselves in public life solely on the basis of caste politics, its combinations and through exploitation of religious divide in the name of secularism of their own definition.
Every well-meaning citizen felt a sense of relief when Dayashankar was sacked. They also approved the action of the Uttar Pradesh Government in lodging a FIR against the accused, who inflicted greater damage on BJP by avoiding arrest for several days. He could have created a chance for his revival had he surrendered immediately and owned the indiscretion in a true spirit of repentance. Such an expectation may well be called illusionary in the existing climate of erosion of moral, ethical and humanistic values in politics of the day.
If India was practicing the democratic values and principles as were seen and interpreted some 56 years ago, a couple of BSP men and women would also have been behind bars. However, even that is no solution
The BSP decided to take maximum advantage of the opportunity provided to them on platter by their main political rival in Uttar Pradesh. The party, and its leadership, burnt midnight oils and next day there were furious demonstrations in all the places wherever BSP could muster numbers. It turned out to be an exercise in creating social dissensions, enhancing caste prejudices and in lowering the levels of the political discourse. The BSP volunteers were demonstrating against humiliation inflicted on their leader, which they very rightly claimed was an insult inflicted on fifty percent of the population, but forgot that it included the mother, wife and daughter of Dayashankar also. They had committed no crime, exercised no indiscretion or insulted bahenji in any way!
All the demonstrators were probably instructed particularly to hurl derogatory slogans humiliating the women folks of one family. Unpardonable level of arrogance was visible to one and all, and uncouth behavior unleashed in these demonstrations against the family of the accused transgressed every contour of civilized behavior. People hung their head in shame when Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the trusted lieutenant of BSP Supremo even wanted the girl child of 12 years of age be presented before him: pesh kiya jay!
In UP every one understands the import of this sentence and I could not locate even one person, including staunch supporters of bahenji, who approved usage of this repulsive phrase by Naseemuddin Siddiqui, a former Minister and a political leader. One wonders whether Siddiqui is also in the queue of potential deserters from the Party as many are keen to follow the path shown by the likes of Swami Prasad Maurya and RK Chaudhari. Siddiqui has rather dexterously, and successfully, erased all the public sympathy that had drifted towards Mayawati courtesy Dayashankar Singh!
Mayawati and her Party has to suffer the wrath from every quarter in UP, and that would be in spite of efforts to play the Dalit card. Dalits like everyone else respect women and children of their opponents. How such basic cultural traditions could get ignored in the strategy formulation of the so-called ‘seasoned’ politicians? The language used by the BSP leadership through this entire episode speaks volumes of the lowering of civility in political leadership. Is Siddiqui naïve enough not to realize that he has humiliated every father, every mother by his crass reference to a young child? The anger and anguish generated amongst every section of society in UP could best be gauged in remote villages of UP where a daughter, irrespective of her caste, creed or religion, is the daughter of the village!
In spite of all known and hidden attempts to create social dissensions, politicians have not succeeded in erasing this culture as yet. Media may not have either time or inclination, but those who know the socio-cultural dynamics of UP could indeed vouchsafe how much damage Siddiqui and subsequent statements of Mayawati accusing the wife, daughter and mother of Daya Shankar Singh have done to the BSP.
