Mayawati goes into ‘social engineering’ mode again

Reaches out to upper castes, Muslims with the 2014 elections in mind

BSP president Mayawati waves at the crowd at a rally in Lucknow on Sunday. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Signalling a return to her “social engineering” experiment to garner the support of sarv samaj (all sections) ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Sunday promised to work for the welfare of all if the “balance of power” shifts in her party’s favour and it is able to form the next government at the Centre.

Though she emphasised that Dalits and other oppressed sections would continue to form the BSP’s core base, Ms. Mayawati appealed to Brahmins and other upper castes to support the party.

The former Chief Minister was addressing a ‘Brahmin bhaichara sammelan’ at the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan here on Sunday,

While she assured Brahmins that their interests would be safeguarded and they would be accorded

maan-samman (dignity and honour), she reached out to other upper castes and Muslims by promising reservation in government jobs for the poor among the upper castes and Muslims. Adding a caveat, she stressed that loyalty to the party and its ideology, and capability, would be taken into account and “those upper castes, who are able to enlist more support for the BSP, would be given greater representation.”

Ms. Mayawati assured to undo the Congress-led UPA government’s “wrongs such as price rise and corruption” and attacked the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for “collapse of law and order and prevailing goonda raj,” which she said was endorsed by the “Chief Minister’s father, Mulayam Singh Yadav.”

She said there was lawlessness, communal incidents and crimes against women and girls were on the rise. “FIRs are not being registered, fear and terror psychosis have gripped Uttar Pradesh on account of injustice, crime and corruption.”

Without naming him, the BSP chief took a swipe at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as a leader with a “regional mindset.” Referring to his visit to disaster-hit Uttarakhand, she asked how a leader with an ambition to become the country’s prime minister could do justice to the country when he talked only about rescuing the people of Gujarat.

Stating that Uttar Pradesh held the key to the BSP’s success in the coming election, Ms. Mayawati said success could be had only if the mistakes of the Vidhan Sabha election were not repeated. Ms. Mayawati’s Brahmin rally marked the culmination of similar meetings held elsewhere in the State. BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra has been given the responsibility to mobilise Brahmins for the party’s cause.