Maya slams Modi, to hold rallies to 'expose' BJP

BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for remaining “silent” over attacks on Dalits in Gujarat.

Mayawati also defended her party leaders over charges of using foul language against expelled BJP leader Daya Shankar Singh’s wife and daughter.

She said that her party would organise rallies in the state to “expose” the BJP and the SP. The first rally would be held at Agra on August 21, while the second one would be organised in SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's Lok Sabha constituency of Azamgarh on August 28.

Addressing a press conference here, Mayawati also accused the ruling Samajwadi Party of having a “tacit understanding” with the saffron party in order to “prevent” the BSP from coming to power in the state in next year’s Assembly elections.

“Modi’s concern for Dalits is an eyewash. It is sad that Modi has not spoken a word on the thrashing of Dalits at Una,” the BSP supremo said. She also said that the RSS and the BJP were behind the Una incident.

She said that Modi had been making efforts to “lure” the Dalits by resorting to “dramatics”. “The Una incident coming after the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula has shattered BJP’s dreams,” Mayawati added.

The BSP leader also said that the SP government in the state was acting in collusion with the BJP, and had pressurised the police to register a case against her and her party leaders though they had not said anything objectionable.

“No case can be registered for saying anything on the floor of the Parliament. But, the state government put pressure on the police to book a case against me as well. This is contempt of the house,” she said.

Mayawati defended her party’s general secretary Naseemuddin Siddique, who was among those booked, and said that the remarks of Siddique were “twisted” and “wrongly interpreted”.

Mayawati also charged the UP government of not being serious about the arrest of Daya Shankar Singh.