'Stop the drama': Mayawati slams BJP over statue vandalism, says its leaders merely issuing statements

Lucknow: Criticising the vandalism of statues in some parts of the country, the Bahujan Samaj Party on Wednesday asked the BJP to stop the “drama” of issuing statements, and take steps instead to end the violence. “The spate of political violence and hatred started after the installation of new governments in the northeastern states needs to be condemned… It is because of this kind of politics that there is tension and insecurity all around,” BSP president Mayawati said in an official release here. [caption id=“attachment_4172251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of BSP chief Mayawati. PTI[/caption] Her comments come after two statues of communist icon Vladimir Lenin were pulled down in Tripura after the Bharatiya Janata Party ended the Left’s 25-year rule in the north-eastern state, and one of social reformer and Dravidian leader EV Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was vandalised in Tamil Nadu. “These incidents only prove how the politics of hatred and violence is prevalent all over, because people with criminal mentality have no fear of law,” Mayawati said. Pointing out to the prompt arrest of seven persons for vandalising the statue of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee in Kolkata on Wednesday, Mayawati said: “Elsewhere the BJP leaders, like always, are merely enacting the drama of issuing statements.” The BJP and RSS should desist from using political violence as their tools, else they could also face its consequences in future, the BSP supremo warned. The BJP governments at the Centre and the states should maintain the rule of law and not allow the rioters to run around freely, she said, asking them to ensure cent percent security to life and religion, guaranteed under the Constitution.