Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, on Sunday, took a dig at the Congress’ ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ and urged people to be cautious of the “double standards” of the grand old party and its ally the Samajwadi Party.
She also made it clear that her party would not form any alliance with the likes of the SP and the Congress in any election.
In a series of posts on X on Sunday, the BSP chief blasted the Congress for “not honouring” BR Ambedkar with the Bharat Ratna.
“The followers of Ambedkar will never forgive the Congress, which organised the ‘Samvidhan Samman Sammelan’ in Prayagraj, for not conferring the main architect of the Constitution with the Bharat Ratna during his lifetime or after his death,” Mayawati said.
She also lashed out at the Congress for not declaring a single day of national mourning following the death of Kanshi Ram who, according to Mayawati, gave impetus to Ambedkar’s movement. The SP government in Uttar Pradesh at that time also did not declare a state mourning, she said. “Be cautious of their double standards of thinking, behaviour and character,” the BSP chief said in Hindi.
The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also attacked the Congress over its demand for a caste census, asking why it did not undertake the exercise during its tenures in government.
“The BSP has always been in favour of it because it is very important for the benefit of the weaker sections," Mayawati said.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday stressed the demand for a nationwide caste census during the Samvidhan Samman Sammelan and said 90 per cent people of the country were sitting out of the system and the step should be taken in their interest.
“They have skills and knowledge but they have no connection with this system. This is the reason why we have raised the demand for caste census,” Rahul Gandhi had said.
Mayawati also attacked the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party over the “ongoing conspiracy to make reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ineffective and abolish it through classification and creamy layer”.
“Is this their love for Dalits? Be careful,” she said.
Mayawati further said, “Will it be appropriate in the interest of SCs, STs and OBCs (Other Backward Classes) to form an alliance with these anti-reservation parties such as the SP and the Congress in any election now? This will not happen at all...”
The BSP had an electoral alliance with the SP for the 1993 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Mayawati had on Friday expressed her gratitude to SP president Akhilesh Yadav after the Kannauj MP demanded that a defamation case be filed against a BJP MLA for his remarks against the BSP chief.