Politics in India’s state of Uttar Pradesh means dealing with Chief Minister Mayawati, for whom the terms ambitious and self-serving don’t even begin to describe.

 

According to a State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Mayawati is “a first rate egomaniac” and a “virtual paranoid dictator” who runs the state “like a fiefdom” and acts on “her eccentricities, whims and insecurities.”

 

She reportedly had her private jet flown to Mumbai so someone could fetch her a new pair of sandals.

 

Mayawati is also known to throw large parties where leading politicians vied for a chance to feed her a piece of her birthday cake. In addition, “she constructed a private road from her residence to her office, which is cleaned immediately after her multiple vehicle convoy reaches its destination.” She has also installed numerous statues of herself at government expense. In one particularly notorious incident in March 2010, she appeared at a political rally surrounded by a garland made not of flowers but of 1,000 Rupee ($22) bills.

 

Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 200 million, is larger than all but four nations of the world.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

BSP Chief a ‘First-Rate Egomaniac’ (by Ramendra Singh, Indian Express)

WikiLeaks: Mayawati's 'Eccentric Paranoia' Included 9 Cooks, 2 Tasters (NDTV)

Cable Reference ID: #08NEWDELHI2783 (Cable Gate Research)