Maya146;s verdicts

Memories are famously short in politics. So the CPM has forgotten the ludicrous allegation many moons ago that BSP...

Memories are famously short in politics. So the CPM has forgotten the ludicrous allegation many moons ago that BSP founder Kanshi Ram was a 8220;CIA agent8221;, and its general secretary, Prakash Karat, drove down to Mayawati8217;s residence to forge understanding with the BSP on how to vote out the UPA government 8212; and presumably, with it, the Indo-US nuclear deal. Changing partners has never frazzled Mayawati,

but she has had some amnesiac moments too this week. Just over a month ago, when the Noida police were competing amongst themselves to mishandle the Arushi Talwar murder case, Mayawati, as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, asked for CBI intervention. It was not the first time that the executive needed the bureau to gain an aura of credibility and end a controversy. But look what Mayawati says now.

Now that the CBI has indicated in the Supreme Court that it has sufficient evidence to file a chargesheet against Mayawati for having assets disproportionate to her known sources of income, she is crying foul against the agency. And since this is a month for polarised, sharpened loyalties, she finds an echo from the left and right. The CBI, they all say, is playing to its susceptibility for political manipulation by targeting her. They say that Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s move to the Congress8217;s side explains the almost simultaneous CBI move against her. It is, of course, entirely overlooked that the CBI has gathered copious evidence of assets to support its words in the apex court. Moreover, all these months, Mayawati has been filing objections against the CBI. To the CBI8217;s affidavit in the court are appended her petitions and the CBI8217;s counter-points.

Why then does Mayawati8217;s charge find such political resonance? Of course, vendetta or the whiff of it is manna for a sharp politician. But the bureau too needs to introspect. There is perhaps little that it can do about the fact that many of the references that come to it may be motivated to suit the executive masters of the day. But the CBI has done little to assert or to be seen to assert the autonomy hard-won for it in the course of the hawala case in the mid-8217;90s.