Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday cautioned voters that neither an Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance nor a united SP can check Bharatiya Janata Party and that only her party would render a crushing blow to Modi government by defeating the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh so that it does not take “immature” steps like the note ban.
“The coming elections will be very important in many respects... if BSP comes to power with full majority in UP then it will check BJP and the central government to some extent from taking decisions like note ban and SP’s goonda and jungle raj will be wiped out from the state,” Mayawati said on her 61st birthday.
“BSP is the only party which can stop the march of BJP in the state... its government in the state will render a big blow to the BJP and it will not return to power at the Centre easily... it will not dare take anti-people decisions,” she said.
Amid talks of a possible tie up between SP and Congress, the BSP president made it clear that her party will go it alone in the polls.
“We will fight the elections on our own, there will be no alliances,” she said.
UP electorate will have to be vigilant from the antics and allurements in manifestos of the political rivals and tacit understanding of opponents, she cautioned.
The BSP chief who celebrated her birthday this time without usual fanfare in view of the model code of conduct being in force in the state, also lashed out at the alleged goondaraj under the Akhilesh Yadav government.
“SP is widely known as a party of one family, region and a particular caste ... since the beginning jungle raj has been prevailing here but it has to be seen that SP and Congress are now seeking votes in the name of such a tainted face, that is, Akhilesh Yadav of SP government,” she said.
“The people of the state have to decide whether they have to make such a tainted face as the chief minister of the state under whom Muzaffarnagar, Dadri, Mathura and Bulandshahr incidents took place... or they will vote the clean face of BSP on whose coming to power all communal and goonda elements either flee from the state or run for cover,” she asserted.
She said neither SP-Congress alliance nor a united SP will be able to check BJP and voting for them will directly benefit BJP.
Commenting on Mayawati’s remarks, BJP General Secretary Vijay Bahadur Pathak said her comments “full of desperation and hopelessness” make it clear that she has acknowledged BJP is coming to power.
Referring to the Enforcement Directorate crackdown on her brother and his bank accounts, she said, “Under a planned conspiracy, money deposited in the banks by our party and some members of my family in a routine manner, as per rules, is being highlighted by BJP and the central government in the media as if it was related to black money.”
“I have already said if BJP and Modi have any honesty and are totally clean they need to make public bank details of 10 month preceding note ban and also till date of all their leaders and industrialist confidants as also how much has been spent on different works which have not been done till now,” she said.
Attacking the Central government for its “immature decision of note ban” she said, the result of this campaign with details of how much black money and fake currency have been detected and how many corrupt people have been nabbed should have been made public but as this has not been done it gives strength to doubts about the “intention” of note ban.
“BJP and Modi as per the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh agenda want to go two steps ahead of Congress and have therefore adopted dictatorial attitude rendering 90 per cent people penniless and over 150 people dead while facing hardships of note ban ... they should be ready to face its consequences in the coming assembly polls,” she said, adding that “after its ‘achche din’ promise, BJP should be prepared for ‘burey din’ (bad days).”
Stressing that BJP has no moral right to level allegations against opponents and their family members and their business, she said its has crossed all limits of decency following political rivalry and started making such allegations just before the assembly elections.
“Keeping in mind the strength of BSP and demoralisation among cadres and to check it from coming to power, charges are made against the party or family members and are being highlighted with the help of certain media houses which are managed,” she alleged.
Mayawati said her family members had been doing their small business since the past several years but BJP found the shortcomings in them only at election time although they had been at the helm at the Centre for the past over two years.
Recalling that her party has always emerged stronger whenever such allegations have been levelled against its leaders, Mayawati said she will no longer give any explanation on it.
She also released the 12th edition of her book “A travelogue of my struggle-ridden life and BSP movement” regarded as “blue book” in her party on the occasion of her birthday.
She, however, said it will be distributed only after completion of the election process.
Making a scathing attack on national leaders of BJP and its spokespersons, Mayawati said if they were so keen on knowing the property details of the BSP national president and her family they need to shun their “casteist” and “narrow mindset” and demand making public the bank details of 300 top leaders of the country and their families before and after they entered politics.
“This will also bring out the property details of BJP leaders and their families and people will be able to do justice with all,” she said.
The BSP chief said people have not been able to overcome from the shock of note ban and they become alarmed every time Modi makes a speech or there is talk about budget, feeling that a new problem might come their way.
“This government wrongly attaches all its works with nationalism and patriotism,” she said, adding that not only jawans were dying at the borders, the number of farmers committing suicide has also gone up since this government came to power.
Making an appeal to her partymen in states other than where elections are being held to observe her birthday as ‘Jan Kalyankari Diwas’ (people’s welfare day) and extend monetary help to people smarting under the note ban, Mayawati warned people against the fake promises made by political opponents like Congress.
“All parties are making false promises and Congress which is on oxygen in the state has also done the same during it rath yatra and khat sabhas,” she said, adding that these were mere election allurements as Congress did nothing despite being in power both at the Centre and the state for maximum time.
Terming demonetisation as a “politically motivated decision” to divert attention from unfulfilled promises, Mayawati said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not fulfilled even one-fourth of his poll promises, which included imposition of President’s rule in UP to restore law and order in the state.
Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Photo
