Heir apparent of the Dalit legacy: Rajaram

Prashun Bhaumik |

By Sanjeev Acharya

For the past week a modest house in gram Bharpur, Pichwar, Panchayat Sihuka, Abeerpur district Azamgarh, has been buzzing with activity. The nondescript village has become a very popular destination. Streams of government officials, political workers and other people are making their way to this remote village to meet the occupant of the house. The locals, some with fear, some with curiosity but all with a mysterious smile on their faces point their fingers to the house. This house is the home and birthplace of 37-year-old Rajaram.

Until only a week ago Rajaram was just one of the many members of the legislative council of Uttar Pradesh. What is the reason for his sudden popularity? Why, almost overnight has he become the centre of attraction for not only the residents of his village and his state but also of the entire nation?

The answer to that question until now resided in the anonymity of an envelope. The world had been informed of his existence but not of his name.

The name is now in bold print on the cover of the re-launch issue of Current.

Rajaram is the man that Mayawati has chosen as her heir and successor.

On August 9 2008, at a massive BSP rally Mayawati announced that she had chosen her successor but that she would for the time being keep his identity a secret. His name she said had been written down and put in two envelopes. The two envelopes were handed over to two of her closest confidants. She said that in the event she became the victim of an unforeseen casualty the two confidants would open the envelopes and announce the name of the successor.

“I have chosen my successor but I won’t disclose the name. The person is 18 years younger to me and is a Dalit. The name will be disclosed only when I am dead. Apart from me only two other people know the name,” she said.

Addressing the rally Mayawati announced that her chosen successor and the next leader of the BSP was not from her own or from Kanshi Ram’s family. But to be sure he was from the ‘Chamar’ community and that he was 18 to 20 years younger than her.

Many eyebrows were raised across the nation as she had introduced her brother Anand Kumar at a rally in October 2007. This had led to rumours that he would become her successor in the party. Obviously Mayawati had other ideas. But in her over an hour-long speech, Mayawati made it clear that her successor would not be from her family.

Though she refused to divulge the name of her heir to the hundreds of thousands of her foot soldiers the better informed in the party already had an idea of the person is. Based on her clues and the amount of importance this young leader has earned in the party over the past few years insiders were in no doubt Rajaram would be the one who will take over the reins of the fastest growing party in India.

Whispers, rumours, gossip, and wild guesses about the identity of the person that we know now to be Rajaram dominated political and non-political circles everywhere. But not in her own party’s high command. This is for the simple reason that quite a few of her advisors and confidants had a fairly clear idea that Rajaram was being groomed to take on the mantle as the Yuvraj of India’s largest Dalit party. It had been quite apparent to those in the know that Rajaram enjoyed Mayawati’s patronage. Sources close to Behenji say that this young man from Azamgarh had been the blue-eyed boy of the late Kanshi Ram and because of his strong recommendation, Mayawati had started grooming him as a future leader.

Rajaram’s first contact with the BSP leadership came when he was a student at the Banaras Hindu University. He had an association with Dr. Baliram the then BSP Member of Parliament from Azamgarh that went back to his district. Dr. Baliram was impressed with the young, energetic and committed student leader from the Dalit community and took him to meet Kanshi Ram.

The late BSP leader was a keen observer and judge of people. After testing his abilities and evaluating his potential, a satisfied Kanshi Ram asked Rajaram to join the party and work with the organization. Rajaram proved to be smart, diligent and hard working as a secretary in the BSP’s Delhi unit. He kept a very low profile and proved his caliber through his organisational skills and focused approach. In a short time Rajaram had created a space for himself in the party.

When Mayawati took over the reins of the party after the demise of Kanshi Ram, she shunted out many of the older organisation leaders appointed and promoted by Kanshi Ram. But Rajaram impressed her too. She realised that Kanshi Ram was not wrong when he promoted him in the party saying, “this Boy is the brightest of all the new comers.” And when she took the oath of Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the third time, she appointed him as her PRO.

According to a government officer who is a close confidant of Mayawati’s, Rajaram won everybody’s heart and respect by keeping a low profile but producing high results.

Even after becoming nominated by Mayawati to the Legislative council of Uttar Pradesh he maintained his low profile. Many people in the know say that is was because of this quality that Mayawati decided to groom him as the deserving candidate to lead the party in the future. She discussed his capabilities and her plans with three or four senior leaders of the party and though she had asked them to keep silent, the word, as it does in every political party, spread silently.

Since Mayawati became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh last year, Rajaram’s anytime access to the corridors of power is evidence of his position in the hierarchy. She had appointed him the vice-president of the party, the post she held under Kanshi Ram. Senior government officials never deny his requests or ignore his suggestions. Over the past year, almost all the second rung BSP leaders have recognised Rajaram as the Black Horse in the leadership race.

When I called Rajaram on his mobile number to check whether or not he is aware of his new position, he was quiet for a while. Then he said, “I will give answers to all your questions after taking permission from party supremo Mayawatiji.”

When I called him again his brother, Jairam, picked up the phone at their Azamgarh house and said, “there are too many workers outside the house and Raja Ramji is in a meeting, so call after some time.” We tried to reach him at least a dozen times to talk to him but could not. So we spoke to his friends as well as co-workers in the party. Nobody commented on the record but many privately confirmed that yes, Raja Ram is indeed the lucky man whom Mayawati has selected from the lakhs of BSP workers and hundreds of leaders. A senior administrative officer posted at Lucknow and a close friend of Rajaram said, “He is the right choice. He is not only humble but confident in his approach and attitude which proves that he knows his position.” One of his associates in the party said we celebrated his birthday in the first week of July and then he left for Bhopal as he has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh.

A Delhi based political pundit says Mayawati’s declaration was a publicity stunt to grab attention at the national level. Mayawati’s carefully chosen words are bound to send her rivals to the drawing board, he said. She has played  a strong Dalit card for the first time after she stormed to power with the backing of the Brahmin community. It is to urge the Scheduled Castes to choose their “own leader”, acknowledging that outside UP, Dalits and Most Backward Castes would gravitate towards the BSP. This would better her position in wining over allies eager to gain from her Dalit base.

A close associate of Mayawati told to this newspaper that Behenji decided to declare an heir because she has a hunch that she may be charge sheeted by the CBI in the Taj Corridor case in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. If she does get arrested she will hand over the chief ministership to Raja Ram until she is cleared in the case.

That Mayawati timed this announcement along with a self-proclaimed threat to her life has triggered political reactions from everybody. Her permanent critic Lok Jan Shakti party leader Ram Vilas Paswan said, “Earlier she was making her statues and installing them in public places. Now she declares her heir. Is this any temple or monastery or her personal property that she is declaring a heir?” Congress leader and in charge of UP Digvijay Singh lashed out at Mayawati for this announcement. “She has shattered the Dr. Ambedkar’s dream of united Dalits by promoting only one caste (Chamar).

Whatever the criticisms of Mayawati’s action, we decided to disclose the name of BSP’s heir apparent because in BSP circle it was an open secret. Everybody knows about Raja Ram but nobody wants to confirm it on the record. This is largely because of the fear of Mayawati’s anger. She has said that she doesn’t want to disclose his name as opponents would create roadblocks for him. However, she should know that from Lucknow to Bhopal and Delhi, Raja Ram has already been identified as the heir apparent.

Our good wishes are with this young down to earth leader who has risen from a poor farming family to attain the enviable status of ‘The Dalit Yuvraj’ of Indian politics.