Sushri Mayavati has apparently lost her bearings in the euphoria of her anointment as the prime ministerial candidate of the an uneven political amalgam that is trying to emerge as the Third Front. That some wise men like Shri Chandrababu Naidu, TRS leader, Shri Rao and some others should have joined this band wagon is a matter of concern to any thoughtful Indian.

I have tried to understand her two statements - first, that the Indo-US nuclear deal is anti Muslim; she may be right but only in her own warped perception because her aim was to wean away the Muslim segment of supporters of the SP of Shri Mulayam Singh. Apparently, her attempts backfired with the lone exception of an MP who, at one time, was an avid and highly vocal supporter of the deal. Despite been the respected editor of an Urdu publication, he has shown a clear lack of application of his rather incisive mind to the nuances of the deal.

Second, and equally important, is her charge that she levelled against the alleged UPA BJP combine to deny her the prime minister's high office. She is fully aware that the BJP, the initiator of the deal under Sh Bajpayee, a leader who every Indian holds in great esteem, showed nothing but opportunism to join hands wih the Left and the latter's warped thinking to bring the UPA government down. Sushri Mayavati's justification of joining hands with the left on a secular platform is a far cry from reality and reeks of her own opportunism wherein she has repeatedly demonstrated her overambitiousness. I do not see her pursuing the cause of dalits too - has anyone witnessed any improvement, visible or otherwise, in the lot of the dalits during her two regimes in UP. All that she has done is and was to ACCEPT MORE & MORE IN SO CALLED DONATIONS to enrich her own self.

Mayavati Ji, dalits of this country, quite unlike the rest of our countrymen and women, are not fools. You may make statues and parks for Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Shri Kanshi Ram but remember, you are the great leader who has tried to make herself bigger than the pedestal that you try to stand on.

As far as the Left is concerned, they have shown to the Communist world that we have, in India, Communists more loyal to Communism than the ones that one is likely to find in countries with such systems. Let me not hesitate from pointing a finger at their patriotism which was conspicuous by its absence when they chose to remain silent in 1962, tried to run down an elected government at the time of India winning her freedom in 1947 and now joining hands with BJP whom they continuously branded fundamentalist. They have demonstrated ideological rabidity at the expense of the country in opposing the nuclear deal - one does not have to stretch one's imagination to see them jumping with joy had the nuclear understanding been initiated with the Chinese sponsorship instead of the US.

My heart goes out to all those who think and live Indian despite the political class that is flush and despite the deprivations that they suffer.