As election time draws near, the sun is beginning to shine for dalit officers in UP. UP chief minister Mayawati is apparently unnerved by the fact that she has been receiving maximum complaints from dalits during her inspection tours of the state.
According to sources close to the chief minister, Ms Mayawati is now planning to post dalit officers in key positions in the state to make the government more “dalit-friendly”.
Dalit officers are tipped off to head the police force and the state administration. These changes are likely to be affected after the budget session gets over. While the name of Mr Kapil Dev is doing the rounds for the chief secretary’s post, Mr Brij Lal is tipped to take over as DGP.
Sources say that the chief minister, during her recent tours, has been making it a point to visit Ambedkar villages in every district. She has been flooded with complaints about sub-standard development and victimising of dalits by the police.
The National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes have indicted the UP government for increasing atrocities on women and dalits. The growing disenchantment of dalits with her government could lead to an erosion in her vote base and expose the chinks in her armour. With the Congress snapping at its heels, this could shatter the BSP’s dream of returning to power in 2012. “Dalit officers are bound to be more responsive towards problems being faced by their community members. Moreover, they can ensure better implementation of schemes initiated by the Mayawati government for dalits in the state. At present, the implementation of such schemes is not satisfactory,” says a senior dalit minister in the Mayawati government.
When she came to power in May 2007, Ms Mayawati had made a conscious effort to give key positions to officers belonging to non-dalit communities. This was done to drive home the message that the BSP now works for “Sarvjan” instead of just “Bahujan”.
The first chief secretary in the Mayawati government was P.K. Misra, a Brahmin, who was later replaced with Atul Gupta, a Vaishya.