Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on her political rivals, accusing them of being “anti-Dalit”, as she kicked off her party’s campaign for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls from Agra.
Agra will go to the polls on February 10 in the first phase of elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly
Calling upon the voters to reject the three parties -- the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party -- the former UP chief minister asserted that the BSP was the only alternative for good governance.
The BSP is contesting all 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. The party has declared names of candidates for the majority of the seats.
Mayawati attacked the Congress over its “hostile” attitude towards Dalits, alleging that its government had denied the Bharat Ratna to B R Ambedkar, who is considered the architect of the Indian Constitution, and to BSP founder Kanshi Ram.
“Congress was ruling in most of the states and also at the Centre after Independence, but because of its policies, it was thrown out of power. The party ‘unsuccessfully’ portrays itself as a party in favour of Dalits but forgets them once it gets power,” the BSP chief said, addressing her first public rally in Agra’s Kothi Meena Bazar.
{{/usCountry}}“Congress was ruling in most of the states and also at the Centre after Independence, but because of its policies, it was thrown out of power. The party ‘unsuccessfully’ portrays itself as a party in favour of Dalits but forgets them once it gets power,” the BSP chief said, addressing her first public rally in Agra’s Kothi Meena Bazar.
{{/usCountry}}Targeting the Samajwadi Party for “promoting lawlessness and goondaism”, she said: “It was in the term of the SP that the Muzaffarnagar riots took place. Dalits face a tough time whenever SP comes to power in the state. To honour those held in high regard by Dalits, certain districts were renamed by BSP during its regime, but SP reversed this step of the BSP.”
She also flayed the BJP for “promoting casteist, capitalist and narrow-minded agendas of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh”.
“Their (BJP) policies are focused on promoting casteist, capitalist and narrow-minded agendas of the RSS. This has resulted in an environment of religious tension and hate in the state,” she said.
“Dalits and the backwards are not getting the benefit of reservation as BJP has promoted the private sector. Minorities remain on their target and even the intellectuals among the upper caste are not spared by the BJP. Unemployment and inflation has increased in present BJP rule,” she added.
Claiming that the common people in Uttar Pradesh have only suffered under the rules of BJP, Congress and Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said that the BSP was the only party that “represents all sections of society”.
“BSP represents all sections of society and has given tickets to ‘sarv-samaj’. It was in BSP rule that Dalits and backwards had their say and the party worked for the poor, the deprived and farmers. BSP will resolve issues faced by the industry in Agra and Firozabad and cases where innocents were framed will be re-investigated,” she said, adding that her party will also “restore the changed names of districts, criminals will be in jail, no bias will be done on the basis of caste or religion”.
The BSP won six of the nine seats in Agra during the 2007 assembly election when the party formed the government on its own in UP. The party, however, could not win any seat in the 2017 assembly election, but was a runner-up in seven. In 2012, too, the BSP won six seats in Agra.
The SP national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “The SP always stood for social justice. We stand with the Constitutional rights given to SC/ST. We are also against privatisation as it eats into the reservation benefits”.
Congress state secretary, Amit Singh, hit back, accusing Mayawati of making false charges. “It is Congress leaders who reach out first to Dalits whenever there is a problem in UP,” he said.
BJP’s state executive committee member, Pramod Gupta, said: “Mayawati is losing her trusted vote bank to BJP thus labelling baseless charges...”