state of GUTTER matrimonial politics in decomposing Bharat

Date: 07 May 2008

Comment:

To woo UP, Rahul should tie Dalit knot
4 May 2008
Jug Suraiya,TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/To_woo_UP_Rahul_should_tie_Dalit_knot/articleshow/3008417.cms

A reader, Harish C Sood of Bareilly, has suggested an 
admirable strategy for the Congress to revive its flagging fortunes in 
UP, that traditional crucible of Indian politics: Rahul Gandhi should 
enter into a matrimonial alliance with a Dalit.

The proclaimed 'Yuvraj' of the Congress party, Rahul should 
emulate kings and emperors the world over who have used marriage as an 
instrument with which to forge links with other principalities and 
powers to help them extend their own domains.

The Great Mughul, Akbar, was a master of such crown 
matrimonials, which he used to great effect in winning over his arch 
adversaries, the Rajputs, and turning them into samdhis , in-law allies, 
who could be trusted to buttress his rule.

Today, the bitterest opponent of the Congress in UP is 
Mayawati. After Rahul tried to storm the once and future Congress 
citadel of UP - which Behenji now rules with an imperial aplomb 
reminiscent of Catherine the Great, Czarina of Russia in her heyday - 
the BSP leader scornfully threw cold water on the fervour the Yuvraj had 
sought to inspire in local voters by alleging that he used a 'special 
soap' to wash himself after he'd had any contact with Dalits.

Nor is Mayawati the only one to paint Rahul in an anti-Dalit 
light. From the other end of the political spectrum, the fiery Uma 
Bharti, former Madhya Pradesh CM and president of the Bhartiya Jan 
Shakti, accused Rahul of viewing not just UP but the whole of India as 
'a Dalit country', adducing as a reason for her charge the rumour that 
the great white hope of the Congress was 'interested' in a Venezuelan. 
"This is the reason he is not getting married here," said Umaji.

A serious charge - even if untrue - and seriously must 
India's No 1 Bachelor address it. The crux of the problem of course is 
the so-called Dalit vote. Once a staple of the consolidated Congress 
vote bank - which also commodiously accommodated Hindu upper castes, 
Muslims and other minorities - the Dalit vote has, at least in UP, been 
almost totally usurped by the BSP. How is the Congress to get it back? 
And the answer, suggested by the would-be matchmaker from Bareilly, is 
simple and obvious: the Congress Yuvraj must find a Dalit Yuvrani .

By putting his matrimonial vows where his vote bank is, 
Rahul could effectively position himself as India's counterpart of US 
presidential hopeful Barak Obama, a symbol of sweeping and profound 
social change. By making himself the official son-in-law of the Dalit 
community, the Congress general secretary could well transform the 
political and physical landscape of UP, where the ubiquitous blue-suited 
Ambedkar statues might be replaced with knight-in-shining-armour Rahul 
images.

Is Rahul prepared to marry for Congress and country? The 
proposed alliance would be not just a shot in the arm for the wilting 
Congress but would prove a potent antidote to the endemic bane of 
casteism, with all Dalits legitimately claiming conjugal connection if 
not actual kinship with the First Family of the land.

So how about it, Rahul? Should we go ahead and put it in the 
matrimonials? "Country's most eligible bachelor with promising future 
career in family-run business seeks suitable, homely, Dalit life 
partner. Strictly no dowry. Behenjis please excuse."

(Readers are invited to make suggestions for this column by 
e-mail: secondopinion@timesgroup.com, or by writing to Second Opinion, 
The Times of India, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110103.)

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