Mayawati finally starts playing caste card
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has finally started playing the caste card after claiming that her party has adopted the “sarvjan” concept.
Addressing a rally in Agra on Tuesday, Ms Mayawati said, “If you want a dalit chief minister, you will have to vote for the BSP. If you vote for the Congress, all the poor and unemployed will have to migrate to other states to earn their livelihood and if you vote for the Samajwadi Party, you will get goondaraj in UP.”
This is the first time that Ms Mayawati has played on dalit emotions and has evoked dalit pride to seek votes for her party. In all her election meetings till now she has harped on how she has turned the BSP into a “sarvjan” party that caters to all including the upper castes.
On Tuesday, in a visible shift of strategy, she also announced that irrespective of the results, she will continue to hold the “master key to power”.
She accused the Congressled UPA government of creating hurdles in Uttar Pradesh’s development and said that a high court bench in western UP was being held back by the centre.
The issue of a high court bench in western UP has been a major demand of the local people who have to travel to Lucknow or Allahabad for their cases in the high court. She also warned that small shopkeepers and businessmen will be without work if the Congress came to power since it will allow foreign direct investment in the retail sector.
Ms Mayawati said the Election Commission had hurt the feelings of dalits by ordering the veiling of elephant statues across the state because the animal was the election symbol of her party. She also mocked at the media and thanked them for giving the elephants and her party so much publicity for free.
The chief minister ended her speech with, “Agar aap dalit ki beti ko phir chief minister dekhna chahte hain to BSP ko vote dijiye. (If you want to see a dalit’s daughter become the chief minister, then vote for the BSP).”
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