In other words one can argue that she is an autocrat, a kind of dictator.
This is not a whimsical autocrat. We are talking of a leader who is very systematically and scientifically winning election after election and increasing her numbers. I found that in her party and within the government she wants delivery and not sycophancy.
Jee Huzoor will not get you anywhere with Mayawati. If you do chamchagiri you won't get anywhere. You have to deliver the task that is assigned to you. She has a professional relationship with these people. She is extremely centralised and powerful but at the same time she is systematised.
How did you get involved in this assignment? What was your first encounter with her like?
My involvement with the BSP came through Kanshi Ram. I was one of the journalists who met Kanshi Ram through T V R Shenoy. He was heading the Malyala Manorama bureau and I was chief of the Delhi bureau of Sunday (magazine).
In the early 1980s we met Kanshi Ram. He fascinated us. I travelled with Mayawati, interviewed her quite often. I was increasingly fascinated by her rise because they (Kanshi Ram and Mayawati) are different. They are unique. They have the audacity to think big.
Although they were insignificant in numbers they thought really big. During those years Kanshi Ram would speak as if he was about to come to power. He really had the passion. Mayawati was somebody who never gave you more than five to ten minutes.
In the beginning she was very, very shy. Kanshi Ram used to do a lot of speaking. Later, when Kanshi Ram got ill and suffered a stroke, Mayawati came to the fore. She would like specific questions and gave pointed answers. Nothing a bit extra. She struck me as a no nonsense type. She would stick to the task on hand.
Image: Mayawati at the Election Commission last year. Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: How Mayawati created history in UP
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