PM Modi didn’t do anything for Dalits in 2 years of his govt: Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not do anything for the Dalits in two years of his government, but is now making several promises to Dalits and backwards as the elections in UP are approaching.

She said while there were lakhs of people who came to Lucknow on Thursday on their own, BJP and its government in MP have forced the students of 200 colleges to come to Modi’s rally in Mhow on Thursday, to gather a “hired crowd”.

Addressing a huge gathering at Ambedkar Memorial here on his 125th birth anniversary, she alleged the BJP and the Congress are “using” the name of BR Ambedkar to get Dalit votes, while they never cared for their welfare.

She said newly-appointed BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya has communal and criminal record, and he is an OBC by caste but he has always been associated with the RSS and BJP, which have a discriminatory view towards the people of this section.

She said even if the BJP appoints a Dalit or OBC as its chief minister or prime pinister, he will not be able to do anything for these sections. “Prime Minister Modi is an example of this. He used to say he is an OBC, but did nothing for the people of this section. He even could not do anything for his tea-seller people,” Mayawati said.

Mayawati said BJP-appointed Kalyan Singh, an OBC, as CM in UP, but he could only work on the RSS’s agenda of Ram Mandir.

She said Dalits do not consider Ram or any god or goddess as their messiah, but it is only Ambedkar who fought for their rights. “Their pilgrimage places are not Ayodhya, Mathura, Vrindavan, Dwarka. Their place of worship is this Ambedkar Memorial in Lucknow,” she said asking her supporters to be aware of any attempt by BJP to raise the Ram Mandir issue again.

She said the BJP government is also trying change the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia. Mayawati said the BJP and RSS are trying to divert the people’s attention from central government’s failures by raising the issues like love jihad, beef and the slogan of Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

She said it was not necessary for the people of every caste and community to say the same thing to show their patriotism and love for the country. “People of my party say Jai Bhim, Jai Bharat. Similarly, some people say Jai Hind,” she said, adding that Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and those issuing fatwa against the slogan were also indirectly helping the BJP.

She said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi compared Rohith Vemula with Ambedkar at a programme in Nagpur, showing his lack of knowledge about the late Dalit icon. Mayawati said Ambedkar should be compared with South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and BSP founder Kanshi Ram who carried his movement forward, not with Vemula. She said Rahul Gandhi’s remark was like his being compared with Jawaharlal Nehru.

Mayawati said though Vemula was an Ambedkarite, Ambedkar never thought of committing suicide and fought against all adversities and atrocities. She said Dalits should not think of ending their lives but struggle.

Mayawati said eight Dalit students committed suicide in Hyderabad Central University during Congress rule at the Centre, but the party did not do anything at the time.

She said Kamlesh Verma, who has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against her, is a Congress worker who contested on the party symbol twice. She said the petition had been filed to harass her, even though she had been cleared by the apex court earlier.

She also targetted the central government for favouring only big businesses at the cost of poor, saying that the government banks have written off the loans of Rs 1.14 lakh crore of corporates in last three years, while the properties of poor are being seized for non payment.

Referring to a recent friendly cricket match between CM Akhilesh Yadav and bureaucrats, she said the officers can help CM win the match, but won’t be able to get him to win in the next assembly elections.

She also said that her party, on coming to power, will review all the decisions taken by the Akhilesh Yadav government in 2016 and reverse those taken by “casteist mindset and vengeance”.

The former UP CM said the criminal elements and goons who used to hide in holes during her government, are roaming free in Samajwadi Party government’s “jungleraaj”. Mayawati said she will “restore” the law and order in the state on coming back to power and put all goons behind bars.