Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday expressed concern over communal tension saying it was not good for development of the country and targeted Narendra Modi for the Gujarat riots.
“If the shadow of communal tension looms on the horizon, then there will be little prospect of development in the country,” she told an election rally here.
Ms. Mayawati directly targeted BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for “failing to control communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.”
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“His track record is not good for the country,” she said, adding that when she was Chief Minister there was not a single communal riot in Uttar Pradesh.
Referring to Muslims, Mayawati said, “If you wish to defeat communal forces, then don’t waste your vote by dividing the secular vote between the Congress and the SP. The Congress is a spent force and you know the SP’s track record — what had happened in Muzaffarnagar.
Attacking the economic policies of the Congress and the BJP, Ms. Mayawati said both the parties had been in power at the Centre and their policies had damaged the country’s economy.