Rape turning into a political weapon in UP

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh politics is never short of drama and as the state moves into election mode, parties are busy finding new issues to target their opposition with. The recent spurt in alleged cases of rape and sexual assaults have come a golden opportunity for the Opposition, particularly the Congress, to take on the Chief Minister Mayawati.

Mayawati is certainly feeling the heat as incidents of crime against women, particularly rape, are coming to light with alarming regularity in the state. In the past three days seven alleged rape cases have been reported from different parts of Uttar Pradesh following which the Congress has claimed that there has been a total break down of law and order in the state.

Now the Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission has also demanded a report on the increasing number of rape and sexual assault cases in the state. SHRC member Justice Vishnu Sahai asked the state administration to submit the report by June 28. The Commission has also asked the Mayawati government to explain what steps are being taken to ensure safety for women.

Mayawati had defied the odds and led Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) to a spectacular victory in the 2007 Assembly elections, promising a better law and order as opposed to what she claimed was the 'goondaraj' under the rule of the then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

However, recent incidents show that the state administration has much to do on the law and order front.

But is the recent spurt in rape cases a true reflection of the law and order in the state or is it about politics in the state where Assembly elections are due in 2012?

The Congress along with the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been crying hoarse while claiming that the law and order in Uttar Pradesh has been deteriorating and have also accused Mayawati of failing to weed out criminal elements from within her party.

"The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh although she is woman, she has not shown willingness to tackle these incidents, hardly any serious and swift action is taken by government, its major human right violation, its blot on civil society and for democracy," Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said.

Digvijaya Singh, a Congress General Secretary and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh said, "The BSP government is supporting criminal elements in Uttar Pradesh. The police are demoralised and the law and order has collapsed."

The fact that some BSP MLAs have themselves been accused of being involved in rape cases made the task of the Congress easier. With as many as seven cases of rape reported in the last three days, the Mayawati administration is clearly rattled and has accused the opposition parties of trying to destabilise the state government.

Congress and Samajwadi Party in particular have been demanding that Mayawati must take responsibility for the cases and resign from the post of Chief Minister.

However, the feisty BSP leader has never backed away from any fight and has counter punched claiming that law and order was much better in the state when compared to Congress-ruled states like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.

"I would like to assure the victims' families that government will take strict action. BSP government has been successful in maintaining law and order in the state. I have ordered the officials that any shielding of the accused will not be tolerated. I am appealing to other political parties not to politicise these incidents, but help in getting the accused punished," said Mayawati.

The Congress is keen to project itself as a genuine contender for power in Lucknow. The party has been steadily losing ground in India's largest state following its loss in the 1989 Assembly elections after the twin onslaught of 'Mandal' (consolidation of the OBCs under the Samajwadi Party) and kamandal (BJP-led Ram Janambhoomi movement).

Following the good showing of the party in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections where it bagged 21 seats to emerge as second most successful party in Uttar Pradesh behind the Samajwadi Party (23 seats) have given hope to the Congress leaders of returning to power in the state after being in the wilderness for over two decades in the state.

Now the recent rape incidents have come in handy for the Congress to show that Mayawati has failed to live upto her promise of a crime-free Uttar Pradesh.

Even before the recent cases of rape came to light, the Congress led by party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has been targeting Mayawati over the law and order issue. Rahul had very confidently claimed that during the agitation by farmers at Bhatta and Prasaul villages of Greater Noida several women were raped by policemen, a charge is yet to be proved.

With the burden of reviving the party's fortune falling on the shoulders of Rahul Gandhi, whom many sycophants see as the next prime minister, the Congress is hoping to dethrone the Mayawati government. Cornered by corruption changes at the Centre, the party has pushed the Gandhi scion to take Mayawati head-on. While the BSP leader has been moulded in the heat and dust of the state's politics, Rahul has been paradropped by the Congress at strategic locations after such incidents with the party hoping to reap rich political dividend by his shoot and scoot style.

As the Assembly election results in Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala show such a strategy is just not feasible in India where the electorate prefers to go with the leader who is seen as one of them and willing to slug it out at the grassroots.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Rita Bahuguna Joshi is not a mass leader and has been unable to galvanise the party cadre though Rahul's emphasis on the youth has at least given the party some hope. The Congress machinery is in disarray in Uttar Pradesh and despite the surprisingly good show in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it has failed to come out with a clear-cut strategy to put the state back on the development track.

So law and order has come as the easiest tool with which to target Mayawati.

Such war of words will only escalate as the political temperature rises even as the victims and their relatives wait for justice.