STATUES, GARLANDS AND BEES....

Power-crazed meglomaniac Mayawati's statue spree and the money display knows no bound it seems. She has been in controversy in the past for collecting public donations on her birthdays. But latest extravaganza to celebrate 25 years of BSP’s existence and 76th birth anniversary of founder Kanshi Ram has set a new bar.

Every piece of statistics associated with Behenji is unusually gigantic in nature.

According to IT Deptt.

Preliminary investigations by the I-T sleuths reveal the garland with which she was "fecilitated" recently weighed 65kg, all in Rs 1,000 notes. A wad of one hundred Rs 1,000 notes weighs around 120g. Taking out the weight of the thread in the garland, sleuths say the net mass of the currency "mala" would not be anything less than 60 kg. With inputs gathered from RBI, officials say it would take at least 500 bundles of Rs 1,000 denomination to make the garland.

Both CBI and I-T department had in their investigation earlier unearthed 72 immovable properties and more than 300 donations valued at Rs 13 crore in the name of Mayawati and her family members. The CBI had frozen more than 50 bank accounts with more than Rs 7 crore in them...

Why did Mayawati choose to wear a Rs 5-cr garland {and go on a statue spree} in a rally which was attended by people who earn less than Rs 100 per day, in a state which has the highest population in the country and the lowest human development index (0.388 against a national average of 0.472) ?

Here's a video showing Mayawati being "fecilitated" by her party members with the cash garland

The Statue Spree: Some Shocking Statistics...

A latest RTI by her political opponents reveals that the amount spent by Chief Minister Mayawati on just two of her dream Dalit memorials is roughly 3 per cent of the entire state govt budget or more than the entire budget provision for agricultural projects in the state.

The latest information released by the state government's Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, the nodal agency for the construction of the memorials reveal that out of a total annual budget of Rs 1,33,000 (one lakh thirty three thousand crore) earmarked for the year 2009 -2010; the UP govt spent a whopping sum of Rs 4436 crore in only two of Mayawat dream projects – the Ambedkar park and Kanshi Ram memorial – both in Lucknow. This comes roughly to 3.3 per cent of the state's total budget or 11 per cent of planned expenditure.

Criticism from Opposition

Opposition has been accusing the BSP for spending over Rs 300 crore of public money on the maha rally. There has been severe criticism from the opposition parties concerning the cash garland controversy. BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dixit said that it was ‘loot ka paisa’. Congress legislative party leader Pramod Tiwari described it an vulgar display of money power. But what his counterpart, AICC general secretary in-charge of UP, Digvijay Singh said outside the Parliament was perhaps the quotable quote. He said, Mayawati was no more a “Dalit ke beti” but “Daulat ke beti”

What Mayawati says in defence

Mayawati has a clear policy: critics may cry foul but she will continue what she wants to do.She claimed that the expenditure on statues was required because the past governments did not show respect towards Dalit icons in whose memory nothing was ever built. "From all those people criticising installation of my statues, I would like to ask that in which book of law it is written that statues of living persons can not be erected," said Mayawati in an election rally in Lucknow recently

It is also claimed that the money totaled only Rs 21 lakh against speculation of crores {At recent BSP's 25th anniversary celebration} & BSP was not like other opponents who secretly collect funds from capitalists and industrialists to run the party and contest elections.

Decreasing Popularity

Mayawati's BSP did not match expectations in the 2009 general elections. The BSP, which was expected to win more than 35 seats in Lok Sabha from the state of Uttar Pradesh, succeeded in bagging only 20 seats. BJP chief Nitin Gadkari’s concern for accommodation of dalits in the party; and Rahul Gandhi’s proclivity to woo dalits into the Congress fold, made Ms Mayawati restless as she perceived intrusions in her political space. Moreover, who knows it might be Mulayam Singh's turn to capture the CM's throne next...