A Letter to Chief Minister Mayawati
Abstract:
Dear chief minister,
Kindly accept my belated congratulations on your spectacular victory in UP, by far the largest state in India and larger than all but six countries in the world. Allow me to also applaud you for publicly announcing your preference for poverty-based rather than caste-based reservations. Just as it took Richard Nixon — a Republican President — to open the door to China, it will probably take a Dalit prime minister to replace caste-based by poverty-based reservation in India.
But in the meantime, you confront the task of leading UP out of poverty. Your speeches, including some delivered in my part of the world, leave little doubt that you fully understand what must be done. Yet, given the historic opportunity you have, I can scarcely resist offering my two bits’ worth.