With her six-month tenure coming to an end shortly, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati seems to be hell-bent on renaming as many institutions and places to perpetuate the memory of Babasaheb Ambedkar as possible.

It does not matter to her that in doing so she hurts the sentiments of a larger section of the people. Thus when Chitrakoot, which traces its nomenclature to pre-Ramayana days, was renamed after little-known Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj, it could not but shock the populace.

Wily politician that she is, Mayawati knows that a party like the BJP, which has reason to be worried about such renaming, is hardly in a position to question her except at the risk of endangering the existing political arrangement to keep Mulayam Singh Yadav at bay.

Surely the BJP, which lays great store by its alliance with the BSP, will think twice before taking any corrective step. This, in turn, has emboldened her to persist with the meaningless renaming exercise. Her decision to rechristen a college in Etawah and an agricultural university in Kanpur named after one of the greatest figures of freedom struggle Chandrashekhar Azad on the ground that he was a mere terrorist is akin to the disrespectful words she once used against Mahatma Gandhi.

Given the fact that the resurgent Dalit movement has disdain for what it calls Gandhi's condescending attitude towards the unfortunate victims of casteism, her views on Gandhi could be understood, even if it could not be appreciated. But why on earth should she condemn Azad, who along with Bhagat Singh, fired the imagination of the youth like no one else during the freedom struggle? Surely, nobody has accused Azad of collaborating with the British, unlike some other leaders whose memory Mayawati is keen to perpetuate. Or is it her case that India's freedom owes solely to Ambedkar?Mayawati knows that apart from some enlightened sections protesting against the substitution of Azad's name with that of Ambedkar, the renaming is unlikely to cause the kind of reaction the desecration of a statue triggered in Mumbai because the martyr has not been appropriated by any caste or creed. In fact, in laying down his life for the country, the only thought motivating Azad was the good of the country, not any particular section's interest. What compounds the deed is that it was perpetrated in the Golden Jubilee of Independence. Of course, for Mayawati and her party, who are able to shift Dalit votes en bloc and thereby bargain with other parties from a peculiar position of strength, what matters is consolidation of Dalit votes. They are aware that any fracas on the renaming issue can only be to the advantage of her Bahujan Samaj Party.

But that should not force the BJP to keep silent, particularly when it eulogizes Azad and his role in the freedom struggle. Any failure on this count can be costly to the party, although its own fascination for renaming places is well known. The question whether the BJP has any option after aligning itself with the forces represented by Mayawati and her ilk is, of course, relevant. But then, having decided to sup with the Emergency's kingpin Bansi Lal in Haryana and tyrannical Balasaheb Thackeray, the BJP cannot complain much. It is truly said that with friends like Mayawati and Thackeray, the BJP does not need enemies.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.