For the doyen of downtrodden, assets is all Maya

The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has filed her latest declaration of assets and liabilities, and it provides conclusive proof—if proof were ever needed for something so conclusively proven—that Indian Politics was, is, and will always be a growth industry for its practitioners.

Before the 2004 elections, Mayawati had declared assets of a little over Rs 1.67 crore. These included Rs 42.44 lakh in cash, bank balance and ornaments, plus residential buildings worth Rs 1.25 crore. These buildings were all in Inderpuri colony of Delhi where her parents live.

In three short, sweet and profitable years, Mayawati’s assets have grown 30 times—3000 per cent!—to Rs 52 crore. The cash has grown to Rs 50.27 lakh, bank deposits to Rs 12.88 crore, jewellery to Rs 50.87 lakh, and property to Rs 36.84 crore.

If she weren’t Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Bangalore’s software companies would be falling over each other to have her as their CFO.

Mayawati’s new properties are all in posh areas. Two in New Delhi’s commercial hotspot, Connaught Place, another commercial property in Okhla, one house on New Delhi’s Sardar Patel Marg, and another on Nehru Road in Lucknow. The actual worth of these properties may be much more than that shown in the affidavit.

A career-politician is a career-politician for nothing. And Mayawati’s explanation for the jump in assets is proof.

These were acquired with money given by her party workers who were agitated after she was “framed” by the BJP in the Taj Corridor and the disproportionate assets case. She said her new acquisitions were in the record of the Income-Tax Department.

The doyen of the downtrodden is angry because the details have become public. Pity the poor lady: she can’t even blame an “upper class conspiracy” for it.

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