There should ideally be no two ways about it. Public money should not be spent on a political rally, as Bahujan Samaj Party has apparently done to celebrate its quarter century. Confounded by the colour blue that symbolises the Dalit party, though, some could argue that the extravaganza would only instil a sense of empowerment among the most marginalised sections of Indian society. Surely, then, a few crores of rupees, or even a couple of hundred as per an estimate, can be readily justified when seen in the context of centuries of oppression of the Dalits.

After all, haven't we heard this rationale before? If public expenditure on statues of Dalit icons can be sought to be justified, what is there to stop an extension of the argument to subsume political rallies as well?

Meanwhile, forget the fact that the party chief and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati recently cited an acute financial crisis to refuse compensation to the next of kin of 63, mostly Dalit, victims of a stampede in the state. Forget, too, the fact that the stampede was triggered by free distribution of just Rs 20, a ladoo, a stainless steel plate and a handkerchief.