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Mayawati gets Ram Temple inauguration invite, says yet to decide on attending it
BSP chief Mayawati reiterated the party will contest the 2024 national polls on its own, maintaining distance from “communal, capitalist, casteist forces”
Former chief minister Mayawati on Monday said she has received an invitation for the Ram Temple inauguration but was yet to decide whether she would attend it even as she reiterated her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will contest the 2024 national polls on its own, maintaining distance from “communal, capitalist, casteist forces”.
“I am yet to decide on attending [the inauguration] ceremony [in Ayodhya on January 22] as I am busy with the party work,” she said at a press conference on her 68th birthday. She added the BSP welcomes the inauguration and the mosque construction in Ayodhya as per the 2019 Supreme Court verdict that paved the way for the building of the temple at the site of the demolished Babri Mosque.
Mayawati underlined the BSP is secular and respects all religions and communities. She reiterated the BSP will stay away from both the Opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Mayawati said the BSP will get good results if the national polls are free and fair. She added the party contests elections on its own because a Dalit leader has the party reins. “...the BSP votes are transferred to the alliance partners but it does not get the base vote of the allies.”
Mayawati’s comments are significant against the backdrop of reports about the Congress’s keenness to include BSP in the INDIA bloc.
The BSP’s support base has significantly eroded since Mayawati became the chief minister for the fourth time with a full majority in 2007. It could win just one seat in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly in 2022.
The BSP contested the 2019 national polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and improved its tally from zero to 10 seats. It ended the alliance blaming SP for the poll debacle.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state that sends 80 of 543 lawmakers to Parliament, remains crucial to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s hopes of returning to power for a third time.
Mayawati referred to the 1993 and 1996 assembly elections the BSP contested in alliance and added the SP and the Congress benefitted.
She said the BSP contested the 2002 polls on its own and bagged over 100 seats. Mayawati added the BSP went on to form the government on its own in 2007. “The vote percentage of the BSP increased in the successive elections.”
She said rival parties want to ally with the BSP as they gain. “Post-poll the BSP might join the government ...ensure its supporters benefit from the government schemes.”
Mayawati blamed the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for complaints of irregularities. “The BSP has suffered since use of the EVMs began. Yet the BSP continues to contest with strength hoping that the system of those indulging in irregularities in polling will fail.”
