Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, saying it was following the RSS agenda in which Dalits and Muslims were being targeted in the name of gau raksha (cow protection).
“The BJP, the RSS, the Shiv Sena and their other organisations, under a well thought out plan first targeted Muslims in the name of cow protection and now they have turned to Dalits,” she said after meeting the victims of Una atrocity in the Ahmedabad civil hospital.
“Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre, weaker sections have been targeted across the country but mostly in BJP-ruled States like Gujarat,” she said.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is from Gujarat, says sab ka saath, sabka vikas but in his home State, there is no development for Dalits … only a few industrialists are enjoying the fruits of the Modi government’s development,” she said.
Alleging that both the BJP and the Congress, dominant parties in Gujarat, had failed to protect Dalits in the State, she said: “Had I not raised the issue of how Dalits were beaten up by the gau raksha people, the issue would not have been taken seriously.”
She announced Rs. 2 lakh as assistance to the families of the victims and assured them that she would raise their issue in Parliament.
