Mayawati fails to win over Indians

The Congress party’s convincing victory in the Indian general election leaves a mystery: what happened to the formidable Mayawati, the wealthy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who was being touted during the marathon election as a kingmaker, and possibly even the leader of a coalition government?

In the event, her party, the BSP, only won 21 seats, falling far short of the 50 that they had been expected to gain. What went wrong?

The answer is simple: Mayawati failed because, since she began her fourth term as chief minister of India’s most populous state in May 2007, the state has suffered. Elected, essentially, on a promise that she would improve the quality of life for millions of lower-caste dalits, or untouchables, Mayawati has instead been seduced by the trappings of power.

She has become astonishingly wealthy with donations from her supporters, erected countless bronze statues of herself, and traveled around the country in a shiny fleet of planes and helicopters. But she has nothing to improve the people’s lot.

Satish Mitra, senior fellow at a New Delhi think tank, told the Wall Street Journal about the problems facing Uttar Pradesh. "Roads are crumbling, vast swaths of countryside are still without regular electricity, and local politics are handicapped by corruption. Ms Mayawati's open ambition to become prime minister almost immediately after she became chief minister put off voters."

In trying to graduate from being a state leader to being a politician with national reach, Mayawati ended up tainted by some of the connections she made. She courted controversy when she attempted to defend one of her candidates, Mukhtar Ansari, as a 'Robin Hood' figure. He was awaiting 32 criminal charges, but she said that "a person who fights those who harass poor people cannot be termed as criminal just by implicating him in false cases".

Nor did Mayawati’s decision to field two billionaires as candidates ring especially true amongst her impoverished support base. As one BSP insider told the Times of India: "Our whole campaign of being a party of the poor and Dalit completely failed as we became more popular for fielding the money bags."

Still only 53, in a country whose leader is 76, Mayawati's ambitions have been stalled rather than destroyed. Notoriously ferocious and self-regarding, she’s unlikely to personally accept too much of the blame. Having already ordered 50 of her party officials to resign, the meeting of BSP candidates that she's arranged for today was expected to be a bloody one. ·