When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati stepped into the drawing room of her official residence in Lucknow on January 15, the glow on her face was unmistakable. The stunning diamond necklace, jhumkas and ring that she sported paled before her jubilant smile. As she cut a massive 50-kg cake to the accompaniment of loud music-and louder applause-it was clear that the occasion was not just a celebration of her 47th birthday. It was as much a statement of what she stood for-or at least claimed to be standing for.

THE OPULENT DALIT: Kanshi Ram offers a piece cake to Mayawati (left)

"I will continue to work for the uplift of Dalits and the poor as long as I live," Mayawati proclaimed as her supporters vowed that she would one day become prime minister. The cake cutting ceremony over, a cultural extravaganza awaited her outside, with each set of performers outdoing the other in praising the chief minister. Every arm of the state machinery, from the Cultural Department to the police, had gone into overdrive to ensure an occasion true to Mayawati's sense of aesthetics-loud, boisterous and ostentatious.

The efforts did pay off. It will be a while before Lucknow, or for that matter Delhi-where the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hosted a reception on January 16-stop talking about the gala events. "The unabashed display of wealth on Mayawati's birthday has put even J. Jayalalithaa to shame," remarked a bureaucrat who, despite being one of the select invitees, had to queue up at the chief minister's residence to greet her. "It should be called loot diwas and not janam diwas," said a rattled Mulayam Singh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party, who went to the extent of charging the chief minister of mopping up public donations of Rs 500 crore through collection coupons issued to ministers, MPs, MLAs and office-bearers of the ruling BSP. The Congress too joined in the grating. "When thousands of poor are dying in the biting cold for shortage of blankets, the birthday celebrations defy all logic in a poor state like Uttar Pradesh," said party spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh.

Such voices of criticism, however, were lost in the general euphoria. Countering the Opposition charges, Mayawati candidly admitted that she herself had appealed to her supporters to gift her cash instead of gold and silver as on her earlier birthdays. Taking on Mulayam directly at one of the functions, she held up a coupon of the Samajwadi Party and wanted to know how he could question her when he was also "collecting donations". BSP chief Kanshi Ram also saw no harm in the practice and justified it as a means to run the party organisation. Lending support to their point was senior minister and BJP leader Lalji Tandon. As he saw it, levelling "baseless charges" on the happy occasion of Maya Memsahib's birthday was like "marking a black spot on a beautiful face".

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There is more to these words than meets the eye. Barring Tandon and Om Prakash Singh, most leaders of the BJP, a partner in the ruling coalition, greeted the chief minister discreetly and, in general, stayed away from the celebrations. Yet, the party is increasingly toeing her line. Although there is resentment in the BJP against Mayawati's whimsical ways, the party knows it has little option but to rally behind the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. Tandon has even begun to make promises of "fulfilling the incomplete task of Ambedkar". Mayawati had campaigned for the BJP in Gujarat. That was only a test run. The party is keen on the Dalit queen's support in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, which go to polls in November. It also wants to sew up an alliance before the next Lok Sabha elections in 2004.

Having silenced the BJP, Mayawati is being ruthless with possible sources of trouble. For instance, independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiyya, who was leading the rebel camp, is languishing in jail after a number of criminal charges were slapped on him. He was instigating a Thakur revolt against the chief minister, one that threatened to break the BJP Legislature Party. Even mediapersons critical of Mayawati have been firmly dealt with. Some 50 of them were targeted for "illegally occupying" government accommodation and eviction proceedings initiated against them.

WORSHIPPING ICON: Mayawati offers tributes at the Rs 100-crore Ambedkar Memorial

Mayawati knows that her populism may not please editorial writers in Delhi, but it is just the sort of grandstanding her constituency loves. Even her big day was projected as Swabhiman Diwas (Day of Pride) for Dalits. Her social, economic and political power on display was meant to be representative of the entire Dalit "samaj". Her success was supposed to be that of an entire society.

The BSP cadre is only too happy. For the party, Mayawati is an icon in the making. She used the birthday to dedicate Lucknow's Ambedkar Memorial to the Dalits. The state administration was made to work day and night to ensure that her dream project was completed before January 15. A Rs 100-crore complex, the Ambedkar Memorial is being projected as an achievement on the road to social equity, a pilgrimage of sorts for the Dalits. The Buddhist architecture is meant to give it a serene touch. In a political system where symbolism is the key, Mayawati is practically a locksmith.

The birthday-cum-show of strength had two messages from Mayawati to political allies, current or potential. One: my support base is intact. Two: if you want to make a deal you do it on my terms. In an election year, you can call it Maya's early warning mechanism.