MAYAWATI has relieved her nephew Akash Anand of his responsibilities as the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) national coordinator and as her political successor until he attains “full maturity”, but there are many other young Dalit leaders in Uttar Pradesh (UP) who are gaining prominence in state politics.
Amid the peppermint farms of Barabanki’s Karpiya village, a discussion about one of them, who is an IITian, brews. “[Tanuj] Punia-ji itna bada pariksha pass kiye hain, woh chhaatron ki samasya samajhte hain (Punia-ji has passed such a big exam, he understands the problems students face),” Ram Lalli, mother of six, says. The other women nod in agreement. What all of them have in common besides being the victims of rising prices and crippling hunger is having at least one or two unemployed children or family members “wasting their education, toiling on farms”. Lalli says the repeated paper leaks in UP have quashed their hopes for jobs.
In UP’s Barabanki constituency, the Congress has fielded 39-year-old Tanuj Punia, an emerging Dalit face in state politics. This is the Congress leader’s second Lok Sabha election after he lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Upendra Singh Rawat in 2019, and was, in fact, the second runner-up after the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Ram Sagar Rawat. He also contested two legislative assembly elections from Zaidpur in Barabanki, but failed to make his mark. In the past five years, Barabanki locals have come to know him as the ‘MP who isn’t’.
Esta historia es de la edición June 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 01, 2024 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The 'Invisible' Dalits
The debate over sub-categorisation of castes is likely to shape the political discourse in the upcoming state elections
Caste Census: To Conquer Or Conserve?
The caste census is generating heated debate, but even its most ardent proponents are not able to articulate a plan about how to use the resulting data
THE FATEFUL COMEDY
Actor-director Rajat Kapoor talks about adapting Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov into a Hindi play
Mad Hatter
When a leader takes off his topi and holds it in his hands while appealing for votes, it signals something extraordinary
Circle Within Circles
The caste question in Muslims.
Backward March
The Maratha reservation question may continue to mire the next government in the state
The 69% Exception
Quota within quota: lessons to be learned from Tamil Nadu
United Indifference
The perils of tweaking tribal identities
Two Nations, Two Destinies
The widely differing balance of power between the military and civilian leadership in India and Pakistan has significantly impacted democracy in the two countries
Crème de la Crème
The mainstream society thinks reservations are against right to equality. It’s high time they are seen in the context of right to justice.