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Mayawati attacks SP, Congress on Day 1

Even as she took over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Friday, Bahujan Samaj Party vice-president Mayawati flayed both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, the key opposition parties that had decided to boycott the swearing-in ceremony.

Governor Vishnukant Shastri administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 46-year-old politician and 23 other ministers at an unusual venue -- the sprawling playing fields of the 158-year-old La Martiniere College.

Mayawati has now gained the distinction of being the only woman to become chief minister of India's most populous state for the third time.

Addressing a press conference shortly after being sworn in, Mayawati trained her guns on the Congress and the Samajwadi Party. Reacting sharply to the anti-BSP tirade of both parties, which have labelled her outfit "communal", she hit back. "It did not make Mulayam communal," she retorted, "when he joined hands with the BJP to not only contest the 1989 election but also participate in the common Janata Dal government; but if BSP does the same, it is labelled communal."

Defending her decision to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a coalition government, she said, "The idea was to save the people of the state from the burden of the colossal expenditure of yet another election."

She also defended the BJP on Gujarat. "What needed to be done was to institute an independent, high-level probe into the Godhra incident that was the root of all the trouble in that state," she said. "It was therefore extremely important to identify the Godhra culprits, because whatever happened in Ahmedabad was an aftermath of that."

Mayawati even sought to draw a comparison between the violence in Gujarat and certain incidents in the past in Uttar Pradesh. "There were similar or worse incidents of communal violence under both Congress and Samajwadi Party regimes in Uttar Pradesh," she remarked.

Stressing that law and order would be her priority, she called upon Muslims "not to get misguided by a Samajwadi Party-sponsored campaign branding BSP as communal simply because of its alignment with the BJP".

"I wish to assure the Muslims of this state," she said, "that they should have nothing to fear. Our past record will tell them that we have never allowed any kind of discrimination on the basis of religion, caste or creed; and we will not allow this in any circumstances even now."

Virtually throwing down the gauntlet, she said, "Let Mulayam come out with one decision that he took during his two stints as chief minister to promote the well being of Muslims."

Listing the state's grave financial health as the biggest challenge before her now, Mayawati suggested drastic surgery as the only solution to cure Uttar Pradesh of its ills.

Displaying unusually clear understanding of the prevailing financial mess, she said, "From what I understand, the decay has set in largely on account of an increasing imbalance in the state's revenue and expenditure."

"My emphasis," she continued, "is therefore going to be on strict realisation of dues, fixing accountability and toning up the administration by checking pilferage and taking serious cognisance of corrupt practices."

Blaming the power crisis in the state on "large-scale power theft", she called for deterrent action against guilty officials.

While her council of ministers currently includes 19 ministers of Cabinet rank and four ministers of state with independent charge, Mayawati proposes to go in for an expansion very soon.

And as if to prove that the BJP is no more the big brother, she has kept that party's representation well below her own. Thus, against the BJP's nine ministers, there are 13 belonging to the BSP and two from Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal.

The swearing-in ceremony was different from all such occasions in the past in more ways than one. Draped in blue and white, a sprawling pandal covering an area of almost 1 acre was erected for the event that was covered live by Doordarshan's national network. "This was unprecedented," said a senior Lucknow Doordarshan official. "I do not know of any other swearing-in of any chief minister in any Indian state being covered live by us."

This was the third time in Uttar Pradesh's history that a swearing-in ceremony was held outside the precincts of the Raj Bhavan, traditional venue for these events. Ironically, on the previous two occasions it was Mayawati's sworn adversaries, Kalyan Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had preferred the local sports stadium to the governor's residence for taking the oath of office.

According to an official, "Mayawati expressed her desire to have the swearing-in ceremony in an open area so that her common supporters could also have a glimpse of a dalit woman's rise to the high office."

The ceremony went on amidst much slogan shouting and beating of drums by enthusiasts of all the coalition constituents. Yet, with BSP volunteers virtually swarming the area and their blue banners and hoardings surrounding the venue, it appeared to be more of a BSP show.

The pandal, which was meant to cater to a crowd of 10,000, overflowed with people who braved the sweltering heat inside. All roads leading to the venue were jammed as traffic restrictions and security arrangements went for a six in the face of the defiant surging crowds.

EARLIER REPORT:
BSP-BJP-RLD government sworn in

ALSO SEE:
Assembly Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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