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Article: India's Anti-Obama.(International Edition; ASIA)(Mayawati)
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- April 27, 2009
- Author:
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Byline: Jeremy Kahn
Unlike Obama, who transcends old divides, Mayawati has built her power on demagogic class warfare.
Shortly after Barack Obama's election last fall, a banner appeared in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state. OBAMA IS PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. NOW IT IS TIME FOR MAYAWATI TO BE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA, it read.
Mayawati (she uses only one name) is Uttar Pradesh's chief minister. It's a big job; if U.P. were a country in its own right, its 190 million inhabitants would make it the sixth largest in the world. Yet Mayawati is now gunning for a bigger one. With national elections beginning this month, her ...