From Children’s Day, Kisan Day, Governance Day, Swabhiman Diwas, Qaumi Ekta Diwas, Sadbhawana Diwas, Social Justice Day to Sewa Diwas - politicians celebrate their birthdays publicly more for political messaging than just pomp and show. Some leaders’ birthdays are celebrated as Jayanti, marked as a national day, like Lal Bahadur Shastri’s, who gave the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’.
BSP chief Mayawati addresses a press conference on her 70th birthday in Lucknow on January 15. (PTI)
When leaders organise lavish celebrations, it is to tell the constituency about their political and pecuniary prowess.
Recently, Dalit leader and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati, marked her birthday with a press conference in which the political messaging was loud and clear- ‘BSP will go solo in 2027 Assembly polls on the party’s slogan of ‘Sarvajan Hitaye, Sarvajan Sukhaye’, primarily to win over Brahmins who are presently miffed with the BJP; a much simpler -- and direct -- affair unlike in the past when her birthday celebrations were held in a grand scale.
At the height of her power, Mayawati would celebrate her birthday, on January 15, dressed in a bright pink salwar suit with dazzling diamonds, with her otherwise invisible family members surrounding her while she cut a big cake.
And while bureaucrats lined up to offer their greetings, the chief medical officer checked the quality of the sweets offered to her. The Lucknow Municipal Corporation would literally paint the town blue. Amid the celebrations were tense moments as any faux pas meant suspensions and terminations.
Her birthday, celebrated both in Lucknow and Delhi, always had a dual purpose. One to galvanise p;arty cadres to collect funds - they were given targets according to their hierarchy in the party, and, second to show her political strength to her rivals. So much so that in early 2000, when she was heading a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), her mentor and party president Kanshi Ram, minced no words in deriding both the partner and the rival, the Congress, notwithstanding the embarrassment it caused to the ministers occupying the front row. And she snubbed her political detractors who dare criticised the lavishness with, “Manuvadi parties, who have never protested the use of government funds for the celebration of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday as Children’s Day or that of Charan Singh as Kisan Day, could not tolerate when Dalit ki Beti celebrated her birthday as ‘Swabhiman Diwas’.
The situation has changed; she has been out of power for 13 years. Public rallies and events that she once held after relinquishing the CM chair have become press outreach programmes.
Interestingly, while her birthday was celebrated in style, the birthday of Kanshi Ram, her mentor, was observed as a day to promote social change and economic prosperity.
I remember once when his birthday was celebrated in Maharashtra, the citadel of the Dalit movement. Both the birthday cake and the cheering crowds were missing. People immediately drew a comparison with CM Mayawati’s birthday as the gap between the two dates is three months.
Kalyan-Atal fallout and comeback
Mayawati is not the only one to have used her birthdays for political messaging.
Former BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh had launched an attack on RSS and late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birthday on January 5 after he was unceremoniously removed from the CM’s chair in November, 1999. Large crowds had assembled at his Mall Avenue home, giving him confidence to go alone.
Soon after, Kalyan Singh formed the separate Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP). Within months, crowds started thinning and the temple mascot of the BJP failed to register his or his party’s presence in the political arena. Thus, when he decided to return to the BJP, he announced it by walking into the Prime Minister’s residence in Delhi with a bouquet of flowers to wish Vajpayee on his birthday. It was interpreted as a sign of his repentance for badmouthing both Vajpayee and RSS. Soon, he was back in the party.
But his differences with BJP leader, Rajnath Singh persisted. Ram Prakash Gupta, who succeeded Kalyan Singh, turned to a short-term arrangement with Rajnath Singh taking over as CM in 2000. Kalyan Singh always believed Rajnath was behind his political exit from the BJP.
On one occasion, Kalyan Singh refused to meet Rajnath Singh who wished to drive down to his home to wish him. The latter’s staff had called up Kalyan Singh, seeking an appointment. Failing to get a response, Rajnath Singh sent wishes to Kalyan Singh through the media. He said he always respected Kalyan Singh as his big brother and that he prays for his long life.
Show of bonhomie and break-up
Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav always celebrated festivals as well as his birthday in his ancestral home in Etawah’s Saifai village.
People recall the AR Rahman show at one of his birthdays, where he cut a huge cake with Amar Singh. It was always a show of family first though for some years Amar Singh stole the limelight. The star attraction at many of his birthday events in Lucknow used to be renowned poet and his friend Gopaldas Neeraj.
However, when a family tussle broke out over his legacy, Mulayam Singh used his birthday to send a message to the partymen that he stood by his son, Akhilesh Yadav. The celebrations were held in the party office.
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