Ms.Mayavati's victory will, of course, set the media agog with various speculations. The problem with Indian media is that they do not admit the existence of something until and unless it hits their headlines. If Mayavati did not win, how many of our print and electronic media would have discussed the prospects of low caste, or 'Shudraraj', as Swami Vivekananda prophesied in the 1920s? If the BJP or the Congress would have swept the U P poll, the media would have deliberated on the defeat of the lower-caste people in the political arena. This is the basic hypocrisy of all media in every country. However, I doubt, if Ms. Mayavati's anf her party BSP's victory in the U.P.election is going to make any fundamental difference to India's political scene. The Congress-led UPA government is certainly not doing well; this has been reflected in four State polls held since it came to power in 2004. The Congress's problem is, when in power- in Delhi or in the States- it focusses more on mega and macro-issues than on small micro-issues. For example, it spends crores of rupees and wastes reams of paper on insoluble issues like improving relations with Pakistan, or Iranian gas pipeline or solving the Kashmir problem, while the people worry about rising prices and farmers over loss of crops or increasing debt. In 2009 Lok Sabha election, the UPA may lose but certainly the BSP will not be so powerful in just two years to wrest power from it, or edge out the BJP or the NDA-led by it from returning to power. As previously seen, Ms. Mayavati's capture of power in Lucknow induces a short-lived euphoria unless the bees in her bonnet stop buzzing. She would make umpteen mistakes, attract danger by her arrogance and anti-Brahmin gimmicks and her government will fall before completing a five-year term. No, I do not believe, Swami Vivekananda's 'Shudra Raj' is in the offing in India, now or in near or distant future. -Bibekananda Ray from a social visit in Singapore.
