Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati targets Modi govt ahead of UP polls

Addressing a massive rally in Lucknow on the 10th death anniversary of its founder Kanshi Ram on Sunday, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati lashed out at the Modi government for using the surgical strikes across the Line of Control to gain political mileage. “It is only after two-and-a-half years of coming in the power the government decided to carry out the strikes. There have been surgical strikes in the past too, but now they [BJP government] are using the surgical strikes to gain political mileage ahead of UP elections,” the BSP chief said. Mayawati also said that the Modi government failed to fulfill the promises given during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign. “Modi govt had promised the people of Uttar Pradesh that the down-trodden will be provided with food, water and electricity. In the two and half years, they did nothing. The farmers were promised loan waiver, but only the rich farmers have actually benefitted not the small farmers,” the BSP chief said. Blaming the BJP for fanning communalism in the state, Mayawati said, “Since the BJP has come to power, lot of incidents related to atrocities on Dalits have been reported in the name of gau raksha and love jihad.” The BSP chief also accused the BJP of trying to convert India into a “Hindu Rashtra”. If Dalits and Muslims come together, it would be enough to defeat the BJP in the state, she thundered. [caption id=“attachment_2728976” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo Mayawati. PTI[/caption] Raking up incidents of Dadri, Una and Muzaffarnagar, Mayawati said, “Ever since SP government came to power, there has been a rule of criminals. Communal politics is rife in Uttar Pradesh and these incidents of Dalit atrocities in Una and Dadri are a proof of it.” Coming down heavily on the ruling Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said because of “rampant crime and anarchy” incidents such as Muzaffarnagar, Dadri, Mathura and Bulandshahr have occurred and promised to restore rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. “There is a tussle for supremacy going on in the SP between Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and its result will be that the Yadav vote will split as each will try to ensure the defeat of candidates owing allegiance to the other,” Mayawati said. “In such circumstances, Muslims should not waste their ballot by voting for them or else it will help the BJP…. Similarly, Congress does not have a vote base and voting for it will also benefit BJP,” Mayawati said. “To stop the BJP, the vote should not go to either the Samajwadi Party or the Congress as with every Assembly seat having 22 to 23 percent dalit votes, BSP can sail through with the help of Muslim votes or else the same scenario can emerge that was seen in 2014,” she stressed. Mayawati, who had faced criticism for spending hundreds of crores of rupees in setting up memorials of herself, Kanshi Ram and BR Ambedkar, said her party will not construct any more memorials. Mayawati lashed out at the BJP saying its condition in UP is “most dismal”. “The BJP is in such a bad shape that it is depending on rejected or expelled leaders of other parties or those who have committed atrocities on their own family members,” she alleged. Without naming him, she trained her guns at former party leader Swami Prasad Maurya terming him as “bhashanbaaz” leader who had said unsavoury things against Hindu gods and  Swati Sing, wife of expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh. The BSP chief also criticised the BJP “for making a beeline to the state for laying the foundation stones of schemes which are nowhere to be seen”. She said backward and upper caste votes have not voted en-mass for any one section but this time round that may not be the case. Alleging that Uttar Pradesh was reeling under “goonda” and “jungle raj”, she said the state needed a BSP government and voting the party to power will be a true homage to Kanshi Ram. Criticising the Congress, Mayawati said that it has projected a Brahmin woman as its chief ministerial candidate in UP who during her stint as the chief minister of Delhi had “held the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar responsible for spreading filth and used the funds meant for dalit welfare on other heads because of her anti-dalit mentality”. “In such a scenario people will not accept Congress and its CM candidate even if its top leader resorts to any drama or goes about promising that power bills will be halved once its government comes to power,” Mayawati said referring to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Deoria to Dilli kisan rath yatra’ which ended recently. She claimed that the very few works of development which have been carried out by this government are the ones which were started during the previous BSP government headed by her. “They have only changed the names of our schemes…at the government and administrative level, mostly the corrupt officials, favourite of the Yadav family, have their hold since the very beginning,” she alleged. “Development and crime control in UP have come to a halt,” she said alleging the SP government’s term has been “dismal, casteist, biased and ridden with political vendetta”. “It is unfortunate that the central governments, both previous and present, have not fulfilled their constitutional obligations due to their political motives,” Mayawati said. Mayawati also rejected the possibility of the BSP forging any pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Punjab. The party had booked more than a dozen trains and thousand vehicles to bring supporters and workers to Lucknow’s Kanshi Ram Eco Garden where Mayawati will address the supporters. In the wake of the recent defections from the party, some 13 sitting MLAs are planning to showcase its strength through the event. Earlier in September, BSP's third ‘_Sarvajan Hitaye, Sarvajan Sukhaye_’ rally in Allahabad , as Firstpost writer Badri Narayan says, was a roaring success as the party has established its unquestionable supremacy in attracting crowds. The unique feature of the Allahabad rally was the party’s attempt to forge a strong social coalition of Dalit-Muslim and showcase it through the rally. The BSP leaders have been holding meetings in all the areas of the state to mobilise their supporters and a minimum of 10,000 supporters are expected to attend the rally, party sources had claimed. With inputs from PTI