Mayawati breezes onto the stage, drops her handbag on the white upholstered sofa chair and walks to the front of the stage to wave to the crowds. This is her first visit to Saran, Bihar, during her mammoth campaign throughout the country, and no less than six party candidates from the neighbouring constituencies are on stage to welcome her.

They touch her feet and bow in respect as she sits down on the gleaming white sofa. Behind her, in a neat row, sit the six Bahujan Samaj Party candidates in the fray. One of them, 41-year-old Salim Pervez, the candidate from Saran, who is facing his first-ever election, taking on the formidable Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the suave Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The six men have hitched their electoral hopes on Mayawati, on her speech, her presence. While the crowds await her arrival by a chopper from Lucknow, the candidates salute her. In chaste Hindi and mellifluous Urdu, showering her with tributes like Hindustan ki hone wali rahenuma (The future saviour of India) and Samajik parivartan ki mahanayika (The grand priestess of social change).

Image: Mayawati greets her flock. Photographs: Seema Pant

Also see: Mayawati, Mulayam battle for Muslim vote

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