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BSP chief Mayawati asks Dalits to unite, win power

Mayawati accused Congress and BJP of conspiring against the BSP to stop it from coming to power and dividing Dalits

Published on: Oct 9, 2020, 16:31:21 IST
Hindustan Times, Lucknow | By
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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday hit out at the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and called them casteist, feudal and narrow-minded while asking the Dalits to unite under her party’s banner to win power at the Centre and in the states.

BSP national president Mayawati paying tribute to party founder Kanshi Ram on his 14th death anniversary in a programme organised at Prerna Kendra, New Delhi, on Friday. (HT Photo)
BSP national president Mayawati paying tribute to party founder Kanshi Ram on his 14th death anniversary in a programme organised at Prerna Kendra, New Delhi, on Friday. (HT Photo)

Speaking at a press conference after paying tribute to BSP founder Kanshi Ram on his 14th death anniversary, Mayawati accused the two parties of conspiring against the BSP to stop it from coming to power. She accused the Congress leaders of calling the BSP BJP’s B-team to misguide the Dalits. Mayawati said the BJP used similar tactics when the Congress was in power at the Centre. She asked the Dalits to understand the BJP and Congress’s “game plan” of dividing the community for political gains.

Also Read: BSP revives 2007 Dalit-Brahmin formula, hopes to unseat Yogi in 2022 polls

Mayawati, a four-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister, said their attitude towards the Dalits and the BSP was the same. She accused Congress and BJP leaders of indulging in all types of political drama over incidents of atrocities against Dalits to serve their vested interests. She referred to the alleged rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras and said both parties betrayed her community. “The Congress or BJP governments did nothing for the welfare and security of the Dalit community. Rather, the scheduled caste people were exploited and harassed under the BJP and Congress governments,” she said.

Mayawati said rival political parties like Congress and the BJP have launched a campaign to defame the BSP over fund collection from its supporters. She insisted her party collects funds from its supporters to run the organisation and to contest elections. Mayawati said the BSP did not take donations from big capitalists and rich businessmen like rival parties did. “If the BSP starts taking donations from capitalists and businessmen, then it will have to follow their directions and when in power, it will have to frame policies for their benefit.”

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rajesh Kumar Singh

Rajesh Kumar Singh is Assistant Editor, Hindustan Times, at the political bureau in Lucknow. An Alumnus of Ramjas College, Delhi and the University of Delhi, he has covered politics in the Hindi heartland Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for three decades and has written extensively on Dalit and OBC politics. He travelled across Uttar Pradesh to cover the panchayat, assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Along with writing on development issues, governance and public policy has done crime reporting, including Maoist activities in Bihar as well as activities of gangsters in East Uttar Pradesh, Jungle Party gang active on UP- Bihar border, dacoit gangs in Bundelkhand region and Sand Mafia active in various districts of UP. Has done investigations and reporting exposing multi-crore NRHM scam in UP, Nutrition scam, Medicine supply scam, irregularities in the flood management projects, weapon smuggling and human trafficking on Indo- Nepal border. He highlighted the deaths of children due to encephalitis in the districts of East Uttar Pradesh; the central and state government took cognisance of the report to launch schemes to check deaths and improve the facilities in the health centres and hospitals. He also reported on the social issues in East Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand- migration, farming crisis, water crisis, plight of the deprived communities- Musahar, Vantongiyas, Sahariya and Kol communities. He covers state government departments. He also travels to write human-interest stories and in-depth stories from the ground in the Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Rohilkhand regions of Uttar Pradesh.

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