By Parmanand Pandey
One would be dumbstruck to hear the language of Ms Rita Bhaguna Joshi, the Chief of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee that she used against the U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati while addressing the meeting of Mahila Congress Workers in Moradabad. She said that ‘It is shameful that the U.P. Chief Minister is doling out Rs two lakh to the victims of rape.’ There is nothing wrong to this extent but what she said after this was enough to shame and benumb any civil society. In her simulated rage she went on ‘I say these women to throw that amount at the face of Mayawati. I will pay Rs.one crore to Mayawati as compensation if she is raped.’ Some were wonderstruck whether this gutter language was coming from the mouth of the UPCC Chief but then some were there who clapped in applause. Rape is, no doubt, a ghastly crime. It kills a woman every day that she lives. No amount of compensation will wipe out her mental agony and pain. But then that is not the issue being discussed here. The point in consideration is the type of political leaders we have, who have no qualms, shame or guilt in stooping down to the bottom of vulgarity.
Ms Joshi is the daughter of the late Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who was an illustrious leader of the country. Late Bahuguna had fought for the freedom of the country. While he was studying in Allahabad University, he was a regular visitor to Ananad Bhavan, which was a hub of freedom-activities. He was jailed for quite long time and as a result of it, he could not complete his formal university education but he shaped up a formidable, dignified and visionary leader of the country. He rose up to the level of the Deputy Prime Minister of India.
Shri Bahuguna started his career as a trade unionist and was the leader of the Rickshaw Union of Allahabad. His concern for poor and deprived sections of the society was clear and obvious. He was one of the most beloved Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and always espoused progressive and secular politics. He wanted that poor people, particularly those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes must get major say in the governance and the administration of the country. He was removed from Chief Ministership of Uttar pradesh in the heyday of the Emergency. That again shows that he was feeling suffocation during the Emergency and had become persona non grata for the coterie that was dictating everything during the Emergency. This was the reason that immediately after the Emergency was lifted he teamed-up with Babu Jagjivan Ram, the other disgruntled Congressman, who was, undoubtedly, the tallest Dalit leader in those days and formed a new party-Congress for Democracy. This party played very important role in unseating the Congress Party from power.
It is necessary to say all these things because one expects that Ms Rita Bahuguna Joshi must have been tempered with the political training of her not-so-ordinary father. Apart from it, Ms Joshi is a Post-Graduate in History and she has also earned her Ph.D. in the same subject. By any reckoning she is qualified enough to set the trend of decent politics. The politics, in today’s environment, has become the calling of the lumpens, who are devoid of any ideology, whose only aim is to make money, bully others, bend and break the rules and laws ,to enjoy the fruits of power by grabbing or usurping it by adopting all crook means. Coming from a political family and being a highly educated person, as Ms Joshi is, her fault or indiscretion becomes doubly serious, reprehensible and deplorable, which deserves to be roundly condemned by one and all.
What Mayawati is doing in Uttar Pradesh is egregiously wrong and nobody in his/her senses would countenance her megalomaniac activities. She is behaving worst than a tin-pot dictator but then that is a different matter. And that does not justify even a wee bit what Ms Joshi has slandered about her.
Ms Joshi appears to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that Mayawati is providing compensation to the rape victims as per the provisions of a Central Act. One can safely say that if Mayawati had to give it her own, she would not have given a single penny.
Being a woman, Ms Joshi was also expected that she would not use such obscene language for a women politician, who is occupying the high post of the Chief Minster of an important State, which has produced number of tall politicians from its cauldron. Mayawati, it can be said without doubt, is not fired with any political, economic or social ideology, which can take the State out of political marsh or quagmire. She is virtually an illiterate woman (though she is a Law Graduate) known for her uncouth and brusque style of functioning. She lives on an emotive issue of ‘Dalit ki beti’. Although the people are slowly realising her gimmicks and that was why; she got a sound drubbing in the recently concluded Lok Shabha elections. She has realised that earth beneath feet is drifting very fast. Developmental activities in Uttar Pradesh have virtually come to a naught. She indulges only into rabid caste politics and outsmarts even Mulayam and Lalu. She thinks that bullying is a good tactics. The number of takers of her politics is fast dwindling because people have seen through it.
Needless to say that nobody can beat Mayawati as far as foul language is concerned. Such type of language coming from the Opposition Parties suits Mayawati as has gained expertise in using it in her favour. Sabji Mandi language is not the reply to Mayawati’s anti-people policies. She has to be opposed politically and ideologically. Alas! Rita Joshi has miserably failed. Any sympathy to her will be misplaced and would not auger well for the state, country and politics as well. No tears should be shed for Ms Joshi. Her jail term could have served a salubrious and fitting lesson to all politicians but that that could not happen as she is out on bail.