Maya takes media on a tour of ‘home truths’

Standing in the incomplete central hall, with a soaring dome above her head, an obliging Mayawati said, ‘‘First of all, this house belongs to my parents built on the land they bought in their ancestral village. Does it look like the Taj Mahal? Where is the expensive Italian marble that is supposed to be lavishly laid on my floors? Yeh marble ghatiya kism ki hai (This marble is of bad quality). The stone is also Dholpur pathar, barely Rs 7-8. Can you see 100 windows here?’’

There are only four rooms upstairs, and four down. The news is deliberately timed to discredit Mayawati and the bahujan samaj as elections to several states are round the corner. It is malicious.’’

The BSP chief then stormed out of the house, a regular, oversized mansion that dots the new suburbs of Delhi and its neighbourhood, and she addressed the media again under a pandal in the unfinished garden. ‘‘My political rivals in UP have realised that the people want to bring the BSP to power as they are fed up of the goonda-gardi culture. But if they are going to use the media to spread disinformation, then I have to take action. I’ve filed a Rs 200-crore suit against the Hindi daily, which first published the story,’’ she said.

She then read out her statement, where she explained how her father paid for the two acres after selling his ancestral property in Bulandshahr, and from the proceeds of selling her mother’s rather successful dairy business. She ended her argument with an appeal to the media for ‘‘fair and accurate’’ reportage: ‘‘I’ve full faith in the independence and freedom of the Press…but this news report has been manufactured to undermine and humiliate the bahujan samaj. Can you blame my people if they believe the media is anti-Dalit?’’ she said. ‘‘Several television news channels even picked up the report and aired it without confirming it with me or my party spokespersons. I would please request you to contact any of us before putting out a report, we are always available.’’

As stunned reporters looked at her (Mayawati has had several run-ins with the media, the most infamous one being five years ago when she and Kanshi Ram, the ailing BSP founder, kicked and chased media persons with chappals in their driveway), Mayawati said she understood the perils of celebrityhood. ‘‘It is the price for being famous,’’ she said sagaciously, ‘‘of course, everyone will associate my name with this house.’’

The BSP chief promised to be accommodating in the run-up to the Assembly elections in UP, Uttaranchal and Punjab where the BSP is contesting — ‘‘We will meet more often, I promise you,’’ she said. The BSP would contest all the seats in the three states. ‘‘There is no question of an alliance,’’ she said, to queries of a Congress or secular alliance.