Uttar Pradesh is often mocked for being Ulta Pradesh (topsy-turvy province). Now it has upturned traditional hierarchies of caste oppression. In the benign reign of Chief Minister Mayawati (BSP), a Dalit-led regime is making life miserable for a Rajput patriarch and his son.

COOPED: Raja Bhaiya in Banda Jail

It began in October last year, when Raghuraj Pratap Singh or Raja Bhaiya, 33, independent MLA from Kunda, Pratapgarh district, was arrested for allegedly threatening a pro-Mayawati BJP MLA. His actual "crime" was attempting to get Rajput MLAs in the BJP to revolt against the party's alliance with Mayawati and, thereby, overthrow her Government.

It seemed a black joke then. Raja Bhaiya's predicament earned him little independent sympathy, given his rough reputation as the self-appointed lord and master of Kunda. This past week, the whole business took a bizarre turn.

On January 27, Udai Pratap Singh, 65, Raja Bhaiya's father and the former ruler of Bhadri estate, was arrested too. He was accused of conspiring to assassinate Mayawati. The old man was charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, becoming the first Doon School alumnus to have India's most lethal anti-terror law thrown at him.

SETTLING SCORES: Mayawati; the skeleton fished out of a pond in Raj Mahal (bottom)

Together, the father and son now face 76 cases. Raja Bhaiya, also named in the POTA conspiracy, faces 32 cases. His father is saddled with 44. Says A. Satish Ganesh, the enthusiastic SP of Pratapgarh: "Both of them are notorious history sheeters. The first cases against Udai Pratap were registered in 1958 when I wasn't even born." Ganesh has obviously had a busy week. He told India Today Udai Pratap had "admitted before the police" that he had planned to "eliminate" the chief minister on January 26. Mayawati went a step further. "They are working for the ISI to create unrest in the country by eliminating me."

Digging out old cases is not all that Mayawati has been doing in Pratapgarh. The father's Raj Mahal (regal palace) in Bhadri and the son's house in Behti, near Kunda town, have been raided for the first time in living memory. Weapons, including AK-56 assault rifles, have been found. Says District Magistrate Mohammed Mustafa, "We have also sought the army's help to excavate the Raj Mahal."

Among the other "treasures" unearthed from the Raj Mahal is a human skeleton. Fished out of a pond, the police say it is of one Santosh Mishra, a local who disappeared in 2001. Also in police custody is the "economic empire" of the Bhadri estate. The district administration has seized 33 liquor shops. The legal owners of these vends, it says, are proxies for Raja Bhaiya and his father.

PAST FURY: Mayawati has dug out 45-year-old cases against Udai Pratap

Raja Bhaiya and Udai Pratap are exemplars of Uttar Pradesh's feudal-style democracy. The son has been elected three times from Kunda. In 2002, the Election Commission asked for a repoll to ensure free voting, but he still won. His appeal lies in a mix of fear and charisma, family loyalty and patronage. He is at once abhorred and adulated.

The arrest of Udai Pratap has alarmed the Rajput community. From Amar Singh, general secretary, Samajwadi Party, to Rajnath Singh, general secretary, BJP, leading Thakurs have spoken out against Mayawati. The manhandling of Raja Bhaiya's wife Bhanvi-she is in an advanced stage of pregnancy-when the police raided her Lucknow residence has seen tempers flare up.

Udai Pratap's arrest too is political dynamite. A devout Hindu, he has strong links with the RSS and the VHP. He is no paragon of virtue though. There was a time when a board placed 3 km from the Bhadri estate read, "From here ends the administration of the state government". His family didn't just bend the law; they thought they were the law.

To his supporters, the arrest of the "Maharaj" is sacrilege. To the Dalits, who have borne the brunt of Rajput domination for years, it is revolution.

MAYAWATI SPLITS THE CONGRESS

SMASH AND GRAB

In a hung assembly like that of Uttar Pradesh, pondering political permutations and combinations is more than merely mathematical indulgence. It is often the route to government. The Samajwadi Party had been hoping that the support of the 23 Congress MLAs would sooner or later come to it, precipitate a split in the BJP and thus bring down Mayawati's BSP-led Government. Instead, it is the chief minister who has reduced the Opposition to a laughing stock. By splitting the Congress, Mayawati has safeguarded her Government and enhanced her reputation as a practitioner of realpolitik. RUNAWAY MEN: Akhilesh Singh (third from left) led the Congress split for Mayawati Mayawati dealt with the defectors via Akhilesh Singh and Amarmani Tripathi, two former Congressmen who are now in her camp. Akhilesh, an MLA from Rae Bareli who was instrumental in the Congress winning the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat in 1999, was expelled from the party about three months ago. A man with a mafiosi image, Akhilesh faced cases under the National Security Act. Mayawati wooed him assiduously, withdrew the cases and got him to split the Congress. Now all the breakaway Congressmen are being pampered by the state machinery. Projects in their constituencies are likely to be cleared speedily. Pramod Tewari, leader of the Congress Legislature Party, is the man in the dock. Congress MLAs see him as having paralysed the party in terms of political positioning by not backing the Samajwadi Party and "doing private deals" with Mayawati. Now that Mayawati has bypassed all intermediaries and grabbed a third of the Congress, Tewari is livid. Like all splits, this one too has been legally controversial. Shortly after his party cracked, Tewari walked into the chamber of Assembly Speaker Kesrinath Tripathi (BJP), the constitutional functionary authorised to recognise a split. Only seven of 23 MLAs had split-one short of the mandatory one-third strength-Tewari protested, pouring abuse on the Speaker, who responded by pointing that though Akhilesh may have been thrown out of the party, in the Assembly records he is still registered as a Congress legislator. Tewari may scream and his factional rivals may shout but the upshot is Mayawati has executed a coup. Not only has she ensured her majority in the Assembly-under a cloud since some BJP MLAs rebelled in October-she has also reduced the Congress to a cipher in the state it once called a pocket borough. Further, she has attracted the support of the three Apna Dal MLAs. Sonelal Patel, Apna Dal president, has praised Mayawati's action against Raja Bhaiya and his family as an attack on feudal forces. Even by the crazy standards of Uttar Pradesh politics, the past week has been tumultuous. As the state's political pundits sit down to assess the new verities, there is one they cannot ignore-Mayawati has never been stronger.

The Singh parivar's fiefdom is today in shock. The two palaces are deserted. Family retainers have fled. Prized horses and dogs are wandering about. Six hundred people are behind bars. In Kunda, Phasadi alias Jameed was arrested for shouting, "Raja Bhaiya zindabad". Santosh Singh was proclaimed a criminal and arrested. His error, people say, was that a year ago he had invited Raja Bhaiya to inaugurate a small school he ran in Lalganj. Indeed, Mayawati has declared all of Uttar Pradesh a notified area. In polite terms, she is running a police state.

That does translate, however, into political reversal. Mayawati is seeking to cement the old Brahmin-Dalit alliance in state politics. Once the Congress' bedrock, and led at that time by the Brahmins, it is today being rebuilt under a Dalit umbrella. Simultaneously, she is targeting Rajputs and making the OBCs queasy as well. Right from the dig to the inspector investigating the Bhadri cases, all the police officials are Brahmin. The dm is a Muslim. A clear attempt to isolate the Rajputs is on.

Caught in the crossfire is the BJP, which prides itself as a Rajput bastion. Mayawati's caste experiments will only weaken the BJP and leave it even more dependent on its partner party. Realising this, state BJP unit President Vinay Katiyar, an OBC (Kurmi), has joined the protests against the "misuse" of POTA on the Singh parivar. New Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley is said to be studying the merits of the cases. A certain family in Pratapgarh looks to him for deliverance, the BJP even more so.

As for Mayawati, she's the cat that's got the cream.