Sincerely,Mayawati: Letters from a CM to the PM

In her letters,Mayawati has put forward her demands and requests for UP,and her views on a range of issues. The last letter she wrote,her hundredth,on May 15,contained her views on the inclusion of caste in the census,sources in the Chief Minister’s office said.

“Successive governments at the Centre deliberately avoided a caste-based census in order to deprive the biggest section of the country’s population of their constitutional rights,” the CM wrote,according to a release issued by the state government.

Mayawati begins her communications to the PM with the salutation “Aadarniya Pradhan Mantriji”,and signs off with “Bhavadiya,Mayawati”. In her first letter,written on May 21,2007,a week after she took charge in Lucknow,the CM expressed regret for not being able to attend a party hosted by the PM on the completion of three years of the UPA-I government.

Subsequently,over the next three years,she raised issues ranging from a Bharat Ratna for BSP founder Kanshi Ram (in January 2008) to piracy off the coast of Somalia (in February 2009).

In May 2009,Mayawati wrote to the PM about the murder of Dera Sach Khand leader Sant Ramanand in Vienna,and four months later,expressed concern over the security of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Earlier,in October 2008,she had raised the issue of attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra,and in February that year,asked the PM to consider removing Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna for an alleged remark to the effect that north Indians take pride in breaking the law.

In an earlier letter,written in December 2007,Mayawati put forth her views on reservation for the Mochi community in the SC category in Gujarat. She wrote at least four letters expressing concern over the lack of development in Bundelkhand; at other times,she discussed the Right To Education Act,the Justice Dinakaran episode and the women’s reservation Bill.

Her letter on Dinakaran,written on December 19,2009,began,“Main aapko yeh patra ek mahatwapoorn prakaran ke sambandh mein likh rahi hoon (I am writing to you about a very important matter)”,and went on to request the PM to give an opportunity to Dinakaran to present his side of the story as per the principle of natural justice (“nyaya ka naisargik siddhant”).

In her eight months in power in 2007,Mayawati wrote 14 letters to the PM. In 2008,she was more prolific,writing 41 letters. In 2009,despite being busy with the Lok Sabha elections,she found time to write to the PM 36 times.

Sources close to Mayawati said she writes all important letters personally. “All letters that have a political tone are written personally by her. Since she alone decides her party’s agenda,the topics she writes on are also entirely of her own choosing,” said a top source.

A BSP leader the CM’s letters would stand as a “historical record” for the party. “This is necessary for future generations to know the BSP’s views on all these issues,” said the leader.