INDIA:A low-caste woman, one of millions of India's "untouchables" or Dalits, was yesterday sworn in as leader of the country's most populous state in a move that promises to politically empower the dispossessed.
Former school teacher Mayawati Kumari and 49 ministers took the oath of office in Lucknow, capital of the northern Uttar Pradesh state, after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or All People's Party belied expectations and secured 203 of 403 provincial assembly seats after marathon month-long polls which were staggered over seven rounds of voting.
Ms Mayawati's victory was achieved by stringing together a brilliantly conceived all-caste "rainbow coalition". She is now the leader of the first majority government in 14 years of coalition rule, often unsteady, in a province of more than 170 million people. If independent, Uttar Pradesh would be the world's seventh largest country.
"People of all castes have brought us to power," Ms Mayawati said following her victory, thanking all the castes and Muslims for voting for her.
"My government will provide a rule free of injustice, crime, fear and corruption and one which is oriented towards development," she said. "There will be development for all, but priority will be given to the lower castes and those socially and economically left behind."
The charismatic leader was born into a "Chamar" or leatherworkers' family at the bottom of India's rigid caste hierarchy. Two years ago she described herself as a "living goddess", saying she had never married in order to "to improve the lot" of Dalits. Ms Mayawati's support base comes mostly from low-caste Dalits, for whom she has become a symbol of their dignity and political aspirations after centuries of oppression by the Hindu upper castes.
Tens of millions of Dalits like Mayawati have remained trapped in predominantly Hindu India's rigid caste system, an ancient hereditary class order that divides society into four general categories with thousands of complex and intricate subdivisions.
The highest or priestly class is the Brahmins while the lowest, made up of manual labourers, is the Sudras. In between are the Kshatriyas, or warriors, and the Vaishyas, or traders, below them.
Existing outside the caste system are the "untouchables", the outcasts generally associated, like Mayawati's ancestors, with "unclean" jobs such as scavenging and cleaning toilets.
They were called Harijans or children of God by Mahatma Gandhi, who worked for their economic and social betterment.
According to the tenets of Hinduism, caste cannot be changed except through the endless cycle of death and rebirth which, in turn, depends on Karma or fate, dictated by good deeds performed during a lifetime.
And, though India's constitution, adopted in 1950, bars discrimination based on caste, the practice still pervades society.
Indian politicians publicly condemn the caste system as "regressive" but have, since independence, perpetuated it by contesting elections with an eye on their voters' caste affiliations.
Caste also defines people's social arrangements, marriages and food habits, especially in states like Uttar Pradesh where Dalits are often confined to ghettos and not allowed to draw water from the village well or worship in the local temple. Rare instances of inter-marriage between a Dalit and an upper caste often leads to disastrous consequences such as death for the couple.
Ms Mayawati has said she wants to become India's first Dalit prime minister, an ambition that analysts say is not beyond reach given the numbers on her side. However, she has a daunting task ahead of her in Uttar Pradesh, which has 76 child deaths per 1,000 births, widespread crime, poverty and corruption, and dismal records of literacy and unemployment.