Mayawati slams Centre’s petition on Ayodhya, calls it new election gimmick
Mayawati said Centre’s petition for return of undisputed land in Ayodhya to its original owners was a new election gimmick of the BJP aimed at retaining power in the Lok Sabha polls.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati said on Wednesday that the petition moved by the Centre in the Supreme Court for return of undisputed land in Ayodhya to its original owners was a new election gimmick of the BJP aimed at retaining power in the Lok Sabha polls.
In a press release, the BSP chief said the central government was trying to intervene in the matter to influence voters before the polls. Terming it a controversial move, she said people should know and thwart the BJP’s divisive agenda.
The BJP-led Centre had moved the apex court to return the undisputed 42 acres of land in Ayodhya surrounding the disputed site of Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid, to the original owners, Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, which wishes to build the Ram temple there.
The Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas has welcomed the move and one Muslim litigant too said he had no objection to the step. However, another Muslim litigant questioned the timing of the petition.
The Supreme Court had earlier ordered status quo on the acquired land at Ayodhya, but, Mayawati said, the Centre was trying to promote its casteist, communal, religious and violent agenda by moving the petition. The move, she said, was anti-constitutional.
Mayawati said after the pre-poll alliance between BSP and SP, the BJP leaders knew they were not going to return to power and were using all the tricks to retain power.
She said the central government had failed on the development front and there had been an increase in poverty, prices of essential commodities, unemployment and illiteracy under the NDA government.
The Centre, which had lost the confidence of the common people, was now trying to grab power using the Ayodhya issue, she said.
Terming the petition as the last political ploy of the BJP, she said the people felt harassed by BJP’s divisive politics.
She also stressed on the opposition against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Assam and north-eastern states, where people had launched a movement against it. Mayawati said the BJP government was trying to crush the movement by portraying the protesters as anti-national.