by Dilip Mandal, translated from Hindi by Ritu Ranjan Kumar
[A set of unverified gossipy statements about the UP Chief Minister Mayawati from unnamed journalists forms the basis of the WikiLeaks cables released a few days ago. Yet, the Indan media went to town about the contents being the truth. For, it only extended the Indian media’s sustained gender, caste, class stereotyped campaign on the UP Chief minister, Mayawati- Round Table India]
Look at what is in the Wiki cable and how media misinterpreted it:
(Some journalists from UP supplied several pieces of information to the US Ambassador and based on that information, the Ambassador sent a report to Washington, which is now shamelessly being projected as a major leak by WikiLeaks. This is not a leak by WikiLeaks: instead it’s a set of statements made by the UP journalists in the year 2008.)
Assessing the political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh just before the (2009) Lok Sabha elections, the US Political Consul to India wrote a report. Later, he sent his confidential report to the US Government. The report is dated 23 October 2008. This confidential cable got leaked by WikiLeaks on 30 August 2011. Immediately after realizing that Mayawati is mentioned in the leaked cable, the Indian media gathered together like hungry wolves and started spreading sensational and misleading news about Mayawati. The most observable headlines in media are as follows:
Mayawati sent empty jet to Mumbai for sandals: WikiLeaks (Times of India)
Mayavati sent her plane for her sandals (Dainik Hindustan)
Mayawati sent empty jet to Mumbai for sandals: Wikileaks (Economic Times)
BSP chief a ‘first-rate egomaniac’ (Indian Express)
WikiLeaks: Mayawati’s ‘eccentric paranoia’ included 9 cooks, 2 tasters (NDTV)
Maya sent plane for her sandals (Navbharat Times)
Mayawati brought sandals in a private jet from Mumbai: Wikileaks (Samaylive)
Mayawati sent jet to fetch sandals: WikiLeaks (IBN Live)
And what these items of news contained was:
* ‘She constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination,” the cable said in an analysis of her “eccentricities, whims and insecurities’.
* It added an account of Mayawati making a state minister do sit-ups in front of her as punishment for a minor protocol error, and reported it cost $250,000 to run as a BSP parliamentary candidate due to ‘institutionalized corruption’.
* Wikileaks cable says that ‘she appointed food tasters to taste food meant for her. This employee tastes food before it’s served to her ensure it’s not poisoned’.
* Wikileaks cable says she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination
* The US embassy cables from the year 2007-2009 have described Mayawati as ‘a first-rate egomaniac’ and paranoid about her security. The cable also said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister is obsessed with becoming prime minister.
* ‘When she needed new sandals, her private jet flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand,’ said the US embassy cable.
* ‘She fears assassination and demanded from the central government the highest level of protection available. In addition to this outsized security apparatus, she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination,’ said the cable.
Does WikiLeaks say all these? Who is ‘revealing’ these things? The diplomatic cable sent to Washington should be read very carefully in its original form. Let the truth be established and the lies be exposed. Please go through excerpts of the cable:
1. Mulford does not say anything himself. He is only quoting the views of several Lucknow based journalists:
“According to several journalists, the law and order situation in UP has improved only in that Mayawati has centralized corruption in her own hands. She has become a virtual paranoid dictator replete with food tasters and a security entourage to rival a head of state”
It can be easily observed that the matter related to “food tasters” has been said on behalf of some journalists. Now, in the year 2011 journalists present the opinions of their own class as a ‘WikiLeaks’ revelation’, thus sensationalizing the issue.
2. Another issue which is being broadcast by the media as a WikiLeaks’ revelation is as follows:
One Lucknow journalist related a story in which a State Minister was forced to do sit-ups in front of her as penance for not first asking permission to call on UP’s governor. Mayawati forced a civil servant to resign when she learned his daughter had joined the Congress Party in Delhi.
3. The basis of the information in this cable is explained in the cable itself. The US diplomat has honestly mentioned the sources. But, the Indian media is not honest enough to mention the source of the information in the cable:
Poloff traveled to three cities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during the week of October 13-17 to gauge the political state of play. A wide range of business, political, academic and media contacts generally agreed that Chief Minister Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have done little to promote development since her May 2007 election.
4. Mulford reports on the basis of the same sources:
Mayawati’s full majority victory in May 2007 UP State Assembly elections left her beholden to no one and has allowed her to act on her eccentricities, whims and insecurities. When she needed new sandals, her private jet flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand. According to Lucknow journalists, she employs nine cooks (two to cook, the others to watch over them) and two food tasters. She fears assassination and demanded from the central government the highest level of protection available. In addition to this outsized security apparatus, she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination.
It is clear that whatever views journalists expressed to Mulford became the basis of the report sent to Washington and later got released by WikiLeaks. And the shameless Indian media is presenting this cable as ‘WikiLeaks revelations’.
WikiLeaks, the website owned by Julian Assange has only released and made public the US diplomatic cable. But the manner in which the Indian media has sensationalized and propagandized and spread rumors about this issue is a real shameful act. One is free to criticize Mayawati, there is no problem at all. But to criticize her, the shield of WikiLeaks’ trustworthiness must not be exploited.
The original cable:
Source: http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/10/08NEWDELHI2783.html
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002783
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR KISL IN
SUBJECT: MAYAWATI: PORTRAIT OF A LADY
REF: A. NEW DELHI 2012
¶B. NEW DELHI 825
Classified By: A/PolCouns Pushpinder Dhillon for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)
¶1. (C) Summary: Poloff traveled to three cities in Uttar
Pradesh (UP) during the week of October 13-17 to gauge the
political state of play. A wide range of business,
political, academic and media contacts generally agreed that
Chief Minister Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
have done little to promote development since her May 2007
election. According to several journalists, the law and
order situation in UP has improved only in that Mayawati has
centralized corruption in her own hands. She has become a
virtual paranoid dictator replete with food tasters and a
security entourage to rival a head of state. Civil servants
will not speak to the press for fear of losing their
positions. Journalists admitted they feared retribution
should they print anything negative about Mayawati. One
journalist claimed that all civil servants’ and most
journalists’ phones are tapped. Politically, contacts noted
that while Mayawati’s support from Brahmins and Muslims may
be waning, she remains extremely popular with her Dalit vote
base. Mayawati is obsessed with becoming Prime Minister and
the BSP will spend huge sums in next year’s national polls.
With all signs pointing to another coalition government in
Delhi, Mayawati could be a powerbroker and perhaps even a
king (or queen) maker. End Summary.
L’Etat, C’est Moi
—————–
¶2. (C) Poloff me a host of contacts in the UP capital,
Lucknow, as well as Kanpur and Varanasi. Those contacts that
must deal with the government (which in state-centric India
means nearly everyone) remarked on Mayawati’s vice-like grip
on all levers of power. All decisions must run through
Mayawati or her very small coterie of advisors. One Lucknow
journalist related a story in which a State Minister was
forced to do sit-ups in front of her as penance for not first
asking permission to call on UP’s governor. Mayawati forced
a civil servant to resign when she learned his daughter had
joined the Congress Party in Delhi. Other than BSP
stalwarts, none expressed an even begrudging approval of
Mayawati’s rule.
Institutionalized Corruption
—————————-
¶3. (C) Most contacts acknowledged that the law Qnd order
situation in the state had improved somewhat from the
previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government of Mulayam Singh
Yadav. However, this is not because Mayawati has put more
police on the streets or reduced corruption. Rival mafia
gangs shooting each other in the streets while vying for
dominance characterized the SP’s rule. Now Mayawati has
institutionalized corruption with competitive fealty payments
to her replacing shootouts. Just to run as a BSP
parliamentary candidate costs roughly 250,000 dollars. This
does not ensure victory of course, but with the BSP likely to
field candidates in over 300 constituencies nationally, it
does ensure Mayawati’s campaign coffers will be full, in
addition to all her other revenue sources including payoffs
and kickbacks from almost every interaction that large
businesses have with the state government, standard practices
in UP. In comparison, several commercial contacts in Lucknow
and Kanpur spoke glowingly of the business climate in Gujarat
and its Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.
Eccentric Paranoia
——————
¶4. (C) Mayawati’s full majority victory in May 2007 UP State
Assembly elections left her beholden to no one and has
allowed her to act on her eccentricities, whims and
NEW DELHI 00002783 002 OF 002
insecurities. When she needed new sandals, her private jet
flew empty to Mumbai to retrieve her preferred brand.
According to Lucknow journalists, she employs nine cooks (two
to cook, the others to watch over them) and two food tasters.
She fears assassination and demanded from the central
government the highest level of protection available. In
addition to this outsized security apparatus, she constructed
a private road from her residence to her office, which is
cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches
its destination. India has seen such political personalities
before, and never failed to deal with them eventually at the
ballot box.
Press Cowered
————-
¶5. (C) Mayawati rarely speaks with the media and when she
does hold a press conference, questions are not allowed.
More worrying, Lucknow journalists claimed the government has
tapped their phones as well as those of civil servants. Most
civil servants now refuse to talk to the press. Reporters
fear losing their jobs should they print anything negative
about Mayawati. Caving to political pressure, the Hindustan
Times removed its Lucknow correspondent after she published a
satirical piece about the Chief Minister. The newspaper’s
owners also operate sugar mills and chemical factories in UP.
Caste Politics Dominates
————————
¶6. (C) Comment: A coalition of Dalits and Brahmins (and a
small percentage of Muslims) elected Mayawati in 2007.
Dalits will remain with Mayawati regardless of poor
governance, simply because the fact that one of their own is
Chief Minister provides them heretofore unimaginable pride.
With the virtual collapse of the Congress Party and the
weakening of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP over the
last several years, the higher castes fled to the BSP to end
the lawlessness of the SP’s rule. But after more than a
year, only a narrow sliver of Brahmins who are close to
Mayawati’s Brahmin advisor (and virtual number two), Satish
Mishra, have seen any return for their support. They could
go back to the Congress or the BJP. Though the Congress
Party secured the support of the SP for the June 22
confidence vote over the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative
(Ref A), the two parties appear to be making little headway
yet in reaching a seat-sharing agreement for UP. If the
parties form a strong alliance, they can credibly challenge
the BSP. However, if terrorist bombings continue, many
Hindus will likely polarize to the BJP and Muslims will flock
back to their traditional SP home. In this case the SP would
see little to gain from a pre-poll alliance with Congress and
would prefer to play the field.
¶7. (C) Comment Continued: As for Mayawati’s dream of becoming
Prime Minister, the most plausible scenario would entail weak
performances nationwide by both the Congress Party and the
BJP and a strong showing by Mayawati and other regional
parties. This would allow the BSP to dictate terms of a
third front (non-Congress, non-BJP) coalition in Delhi.
While inflation, development and terrorism will be the
“issues” in the coming national polls, caste remains the DNA
of UP politics, and no one has demonstrated more ability at
playing caste politics than Mayawati. End Comment.
MULFORD
