Lucknow, September 17: Hitting back at Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad alias ‘Ravan’ for referring to her as his ‘bua’ (paternal aunt), BSP national president Mayawati today said she was only related to the crores of Dalits who gave her complete respect and considered her their ideal.
Addressing the media at her grand newly refurbished 9 Mall Avenue personal bungalow on Sunday, the BSP supremo alerted her followers from such elements “who set up organisations in the name of Dalits for their selfish material motives”.
Categorically denying any relation or “blood connection” with the youth Dalit icon, Mayawati charged him with instigating violence in Shabbirpur in Saharanpur last year and blamed him for strengthening the BJP behind the scenes.
She said till the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections, the BJP will continue to prop up such forces.
She accused the BJP of using the name of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to draw political mileage in an election year and to divert attention from their failure on all fronts.
“If the BJP government really had any respect for Atalji, they should have followed in his footsteps in governance and not allowed religious insanity and mob lynching in the name of protecting the cow.”
Mayawati also hit out at the BJP-led Central government for prohibiting the use of the word ‘Dalit’ and insistence on using Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe on the ground that it was used in the Constitution.
She said in that case, even ‘Hindustan’ word should not be used to describe India as the Constitution mentioned only ‘Bharat’.
Referring to the proposed alliance, she reiterated her stand by stating that she was not against the principle of alliance but would enter one only if she was given a “respectful” number of seats.
Thanking the BJP government for the 9 Mall Avenue bungalow in which she moved in last evening, Mayawati said during the Vajpayee regime, her BJP-backed government in Lucknow was being pressured to enter into an alliance for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections in which BJP wanted 60 of the 80 seats in UP.
“When I refused and preferred to resigned, I was falsely implicated in the Taj corridor case and DA cases against me and my relatives were lodged, which angered my supporters across the country,” she said.
“It was after the BJP’s attempt to trouble me that my supporters said I had given my life for the party and the movement and hence they decided to collect small donations with which I could buy a house for myself. This is how I bought this property and another one in Delhi,” Mayawati claimed.
Source Tribune India
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