Congress ‘anti-Dalit’, Channi as CM face ploy for votes: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati addressed a well-attended rally at Nawanshahr, her first in Punjab this poll season, where she came down heavily on Congress, saying the party was anti-Dalit

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday attacked Congress by terming it ‘highly casteist’ party that declared Charanjit Singh Channi as its chief ministerial face only to gather Dalit votes. She said the policies of the successive Congress governments at the Centre and in Punjab had been anti-Dalit.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said the policies of the successive Congress governments at the Centre and in Punjab had been anti-Dalit and that declaring Charanjit Channi as CM face was a ploy to gather Dalit votes.

Addressing a well-attended rally at Nawanshahr ahead of the February 20 Punjab elections, Mayawati said Channi will be sidelined in case Congress forms the next government in Punjab. She also criticised Channi for not remembering Guru Ravidas though he paid obeisance at a temple in Himachal Pradesh on being declared the chief ministerial face.

In alliance with SAD, the BSP is contesting 20 seats out of 117 in Punjab. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and BSP state president Jasvir Singh Garhi were present on the occasion. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) decided to have an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) so that aspirations of Dalit stalwarts like Dr BR Ambedkar and BSP founder Kanshi Ram could be fulfilled, she said.

“Congress because of its anti-Dalit and anti-poor stance neither conferred Barat Ratna on Dr BR Ambedkar nor on Kanshi Ram though they qualified for it in all respects,” she lamented, adding that the then Congress government at the Centre did not announce even a day’s mourning on the death of Kanshi Ram.

“After having been thrown out of the Centre and in majority of the states, has now started ‘natakbaji’ (theatrics) of being pro-Dalit and pro-backward classes,” Mayawati said.

She said she had full confidence that on attaining power, alliance’s chief minister’s face Sukhbir Badal would initiate pro-poor policies and programmes on the pattern of Uttar Pradesh (during BSP’s rule) in Punjab to make the poor stand on their feet.

“The present Dalit chief minister, except making announcements, did not take any steps for the welfare of weaker sections,” she alleged.

Castigating BJP too for following “anti-Dalit, anti-farmer” policies, she said all sections including the members of upper caste are “suffering due to wrong policies of BJP government” in the country.

The AAP too came in for severe criticism at her hands when she said that ground realities in Delhi were quite different than what was being claimed by the party in Punjab. “The AAP failed miserably during the peak of coronavirus,” she said.

“Parivartan (change) for a better tomorrow is in your hands,” she said, urging the audience to strengthen the hands of Sukhbir Badal.

In his address, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal heaped praise on Mayawati and criticised the Congress for “stalling various schemes and projects” including the “sacred memorial project” at Shri Kuralgarh Sahib near Garhshankar, a spot related with Guru Ravidas’ visit during his lifetime. “After Mayawati’s visit to Punjab, the SAD-BSP tsunami is set to sweep the state,” he said. Sukhbir promised to restore all blue cards which had been deleted by the Congress government within one month of formation of the SAD-BSP government. (With PTI inputs)