Mayawati hails Kanshi Ram as greatest Dalit messiah

September 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday condemned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's comment that any attempt to demolish Dalit icons' statues will lead to a law and order situation, and said she "mocks the Constitution and challenges the Supreme Court". (The) Congress party would like to condemn the Uttar Pradesh chief minister's statement where she has openly, in a manner, called for civil war, party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters.

September 17th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday denied her government had defied the Supreme Court order on halting all construction activity in the state. Addressing a rally during a foundation stone laying ceremony for a 70-acre eco garden named after the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram here in the evening, the chief minister trained her guns on the opposition and the media for what she termed as "distortion and twisting of facts".

September 4th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has now been painted in shades of divinity. A 25-year-old painter has projected Mayawati as a goddess in several paintings on display at Lalit Kala Akademi here.

August 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Wednesday said that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is insensitive to the suffering of the people of the state where 58 of 71 districts have been declared drought-hit. "Mayawati government is insensitive to the problems of farmers and common people of the state where people are facing hardships because of drought, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad told IANS.

August 3rd, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday demanded for a budget of Rs 27 crore for statues at the Kashiram memorial and for other structures in the state. Presenting the supplementary budget, she demanded for an additional Rs 550 crore for her dream projects, which includes Rs 27 crore for new statues.

July 16th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday claimed that the monetary compensation being paid to a Dalit rape victim was strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Dalit Act and the amount had been determined by the Congress party when it was in power. Speaking to mediapersons, she said: "Whatever we are paying to Dalit victims of rape was determined by none other than the Congress party, whose government was responsible for drafting the provisions of the Dalit Act." Mayawati was referring to the remarks made by state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi on the payment of compensation to rape victims belonging to the Dalit community.

July 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Seeking to justify use of nearly Rs.3,200 crore (Rs.3.2 billion) of public funds for building grandiose memorials and statues of Dalit icons, including of herself, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the money earned from tourists visiting the spots will be used for development. "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters.

July 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Seeking to justify use of state funds in erecting statues of Dalit icons in the state capital, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the money earned from visitors to the memorials would be put to good use. "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters here.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Monday suggested Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati spend public money more on people's welfare than for putting up memorials and statues, including of herself. "Mayawati has been lavishly spending public money on building memorials and statues.

June 25th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Prompted allegedly by a petition in the Supreme Court, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday night surprised many and unveiled as many as 15 projects, including memorials and statues eight days before the schedule. Officials admitted that the unveiling ceremony was to take place July 3 but Mayawati changed the schedule as Delhi-based lawyer Ravi Kant filed a public interest litigation in the apex court seeking to prevent her from inaugurating projects.

June 13th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday asked workers of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to stage demonstrations across the country on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's birthday June 19 against his party's "anti-Dalit policies". She made the announcement at a specially convened day-long meeting of her ministers, party MPs, legislators, district coordinators and other senior leaders here.

May 15th, 2009 AGRA - This city, famous for the Taj Mahal, is also known as the Dalit capital of India. And people here are busy debating if Mayawati - the woman who has risen from the bottom of the social hierarchy to be Uttar Pradesh chief minister - will finally get a shot at the country's top post.

April 13th, 2009 LUCKNOW - When it marks its 25th birthday Tuesday, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) -- one of India's youngest political parties -- will have plenty to celebrate. In a country where parties decades old are in struggle mode due to growing fragmentation of the Indian vote, the BSP has mastered the art of winning elections and scripting history.

March 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will not form an alliance with any other political party for the general elections this time, BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said Sunday. 'This time the Bahujan Samaj Party will fight the elections on its own.

March 8th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Eight-year-old Pinki Sonkar, the protagonist of Megan Mylan's Oscar-winning documentary 'Smile Pinki', will publicly expose the 'anti-Dalit face' of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the National Dalit Front (NDF) said Saturday. 'With the help of Pinki we are now going to unmask the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government, which only pretends to fight for Dalit rights,' NDF general secretary Udit Raj told IANS on telephone from New Delhi.