A Tale of Two Queens

Before the British took India for themselves, the country much larger than what it is today, was governed by various Rajas and Ranis of different states. The British had decided to allow most of these Rajas and Ranis to continue, and in exchange they extracted huge taxes from them. The British have left us long ago, but we are still ruled by various Rajas and Ranis of different states. Raja Lalu, Raja Paswan, Raja Pawar, Raja Mulayam, Raja Basu, Raja Biju, Rani Mayawati, Rani Jayalalitha, Raja Abdullah, Raja Badal are some of the good names of present day Raja-Rani. These Raja-Ranis are so shrewd that they have altogether mended the British theory and have instead started demanding taxes from the Emperor of Delhi. As the new government is about to crop up, most Rajas have been forked out by either of the likely emperors because of their low clouts. But two of our quintessential Queens remain the target as the game of capture is narrowing down, when they still manage to evade, themselves.

Ms. J. Jayalalitha and Sushri Mayawati, are two such versatile queens of Indian politics who are considered as embarrassing and irksome politicians to deal with. Though they have come from different background, yet they have many similarities while doing business. Jayalalitha was a popular Tamil filmstar when she had joined politics. She has seen all the richness from her childhood. While Mayawati was a primary teacher in most ordinary school before she joined politics and her parents remained very poor villagers.

Beside this, they have many commonness which put them in a category. Both of them significantly became the torchbearers of the parties after their mentors left for heavenly abode. They remained unmarried and are relatively young and attractive. They love richness, be it acquiring immovable properties, displaying extravagant jewellery and clothing or keeping imported cars. It is rarely seen that these two women visit the poor, filthy and destitute countryside except when of course this requires political mileage. They are despot and rule by virtue of powers that be with them. Both of them were seen manhandling their opponents ruthlessly. Once, DMK supremo Karunanidhi was dragged from his house by Jayalalitha's henchmen while Mayawati and his men were fighting physically with Mulayam's men inside the Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh. Both the leaders had been accused of dismissing the Vajpayee government due to their whims and weirdness in the past. They are untrustworthy and recalcitrant by nature when it matters to power-sharing.

Our country has remained very unfortunate since ages when it matters powers and rules. The history witnesses that we remained cowards when Afghans, Mongols and Central Asian invaders struck India. The misfortune still remains with us. We still have to depend on the whims of these power hungry, resilient, untrustworthy queens in order to surpass 272. As long as this number remains, we would be haunted by these insane queens, as we as a nation are timid by nature. Long live our Queens.