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‘Neither NDA nor INDIA’: Mayawati spells out BSP stand, then explains
BSP chief Mayawati appealed to her loyalists to ensure that neither NDA nor INDIA, the ruling and opposition grouping, come to power with a full majority at the Centre
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati announced on Wednesday that her party would not align with either the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
She made the announcement in New Delhi on Wednesday, a day after several political parties announced their preference by aligning with either formation for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Mayawati’s move indicated that talks about a possible pre-poll Congress-BSP pact had fallen apart.
The BSP leader urged her cadres to be prepared to contest the forthcoming assembly polls in Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi-ruled Telangana.
She also appealed to her loyalists to ensure that neither NDA nor INDIA came to power with a full majority at the Centre.
“We should ensure that none of these two alliances are able to form a “mazboot (strong)” government and when that happens, it would mean them forming a “majboor (weak)” government which will guard the poor and the marginalised from exploitation,” she said.
To bring credibility to her being equidistant from both BJP and Congress alliances, she said in states like Punjab she was open to alliances with regional parties provided they weren’t part of either the NDA or INDIA.
Mayawati’s announcement comes a day after the BJP and the Congress, along with their alliance partners, put up a parallel show of strength.
Mayawati said her party, like the opposition’s 26-party alliance, is working hard to dislodge the BJP.
This claim is significant when seen in the backdrop of the frequent charges levelled at her by some opposition parties, including her arch-rival Samajwadi Party (SP), of being the BJP’s ‘B’ team.
The other parties, apart from the BSP, which were neither present in Bengaluru, the venue of the 26-party opposition meet, or New Delhi, the venue of the 38-party meeting of the BJP and its allies, included Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), Akali Dal, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, Indian National Lok Dal, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen and All India United Democratic Front.
While revealing her stand for the 2024 elections, Mayawati criticised the Congress, a major partner of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which has now been renamed INDIA.
“The truth is that had the Congress, during its heydays in power both at the Centre and in most states, cared for the poor and marginalised, then Baba Saheb Ambedkar wouldn’t have quit as the law minister in their government. In fact, the formation of the BSP too wouldn’t have been required then,” Mayawati said.
She said the Congress was dreaming of returning to power by forming an alliance of “casteist, capitalist-minded” parties. She didn’t, however, specifically name the parties which she thought were casteist or whose leaders had a capitalist approach.
Mayawati also targeted the BJP, picking Congress’s “garibi hatao (abolish poverty)” slogan and the BJP’s “ ₹15 lakh in each bank account” promise as proof of the empty boast of these parties, who she said, shared similar views on Muslims and other religious minorities, Dalits and the marginalised.
“This is why the BSP has decided to remain equidistant from both the parties and their groups,” she said, while flagging the issue of violence and unrest in Manipur towards the end, stating that the issue has now started attracting attention.
