Mayawati has been doing rounds on social media lately. The reason - many old tweets of a few celebrities mocking her for her looks, background, policies etc. have resurfaced. She was mostly criticized for the statues of herself and other DBA icons she had built during her tenure. Even my past self would’ve mocked her. However, after all these years, I’ve gained a little perspective.
Bear with me on this -
Do you remember this scene from Django Unchained?
Django, a slave, is rescued and freed by Dr Schulz. He then takes a scantily dressed Django to buy some new clothes. Now, remember, Django has been a slave all his life, wearing nothing else than mere rags, if so much at all. It’s the first time Django’s going to choose, buy and own new clothes. So it certainly makes sense for him to dress as extravagantly as possible once he finally has the chance to. Seeing him wear that extremely fancy blue suit, one might think he has simply overdone it, perhaps partly due to overcompensation or partly due to a lack of knowledge of what an ordinary citizen wears.
But I feel the most intriguing reason might also be that Django wanted to show everybody that he was a free man. And he wanted to do that as expressively as possible. Thus, it might also have been in order to shock all those slave owners with the unusual sight of a black man in an expensive, fancy blue suit.
Now, let’s draw parallels with Mayawati and her statues. Her rise from humble beginnings has been called a miracle of democracy. She was the first female Scheduled Caste Chief Minister in India. Mayawati, a Dalit. A woman in a male-dominated sport called politics. One can only imagine what she might’ve had to go through to rise through the ranks and finally become the first female Chief Minister of a state like Uttar Pradesh.
Maybe like Django, Mayawati wanted to show everyone she’s finally made it. And she wanted to show that as expressively as possible. It might also have been in order to show everyone the unusual sight of a statue of a woman, belonging to what people consider a lower, untouchable caste. Maybe she didn’t mean to imply any of this. Maybe she overdid it. Maybe it was just her vanity. But could there be a bigger flex? Challenging caste supremacy and patriarchy with one move.
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