Accusing both the ruling Congress and the BJP of ignoring the poor, backward classes and farmers, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday said efforts should be made to stop both parties from coming to power in Karnataka.
“At all cost, we need to prevent the Congress and BJP from coming to power. Voters should teach these parties the right lesson for ignoring the poor, SCs, STs, farmers, and small traders,” the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said in her address at a massive rally of JD(S), which brought leaders of JD(S) and BSP on the same platform. “In Karnataka, Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, and minorities, who were attracted by the Congress on fake promises have not benefited,” she added.
“The Congress may again try to attract Dalit votes by making false promises. In the last election, it promised a Dalit Chief Minister but it did not honour its commitment. The BJP played caste politics and touched religious sentiments. Do not fall prey to the promises made in the manifestos of these parties,” Ms. Mayawati cautioned.
Particularly targeting the Congress for its policies towards Dalits, she said: “The party did not respect B.R. Ambedkar. It used all its resources to prevent him from entering Parliament and even misused official machinery for this. During the long rule of the Congress, it didn’t honour him with the Bharat Ratna, and also didn’t not implement the Mandal commission report.” Later, she said V.P. Singh’s government honoured Dr. Ambedkar with the Bharat Ratna and implemented the report after the we sought it.
The BJP government, she said, was also functioning on the same lines, and that farmers and traders had become economically weak. “Minorities were not feeling safe in India as the BJP was implementing Hindutva-RSS agenda at the Centre,” she said, citing attacks on Dalits in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and the death of Rohit Vemula.
Citing that demonetisation and GST were implemented without preparation, she said: “It has been four years since the BJP promised to bring back black money stashed abroad and distribute it among the poor. But, nobody had received a penny yet.”
In an emotionally charged address, JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was declared as the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate by Ms. Mayawati, said: “I am not seeking power for my sake. Bring JD(S) to power for your own welfare.”
Seeking a clear mandate for his alliance, he said: “Please don’t allow me to knock on the doors of the Congress and BJP leaders.” Citing regional issues such as the Cauvery, Mahadayi, and Krishna river water disputes, Mr. Kumaraswamy said: “Being a regional party, the JD(S) coming to power is the only solution to address protracted issues faced by Karnataka.”
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On Modi’s pakoda remark
Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Commenting on the poverty and unemployment status in the country, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pakoda remark. “When the poor and unemployed ask for ways to earn their livelihood, Mr. Modi suggests that pakodas be sold to do so,” she said.
