Keeping an equal distance from the Congress and BJP, BSP supremo Mayawati on Sunday said the party is against the land Acquisition Bill but it would not join any protest against this Bill led by the Congress. “BJP is toeing the lines of Congress as both these parties are anti-poor and anti-dalit. The BSP will expose both these parties and will not support the land Acquisition Bill in the present form in Rajya Sabha,” Mayawati told reporters here on Sunday.
Showing her resentment over the Bill, she said BJP’s downslide has begun. “The way party discussed this Bill in its National Executive meeting shows the BJP is shaky. The recent statement by some senior BJP leaders, including the Union Ministers, has shown the frustration of the party,” she said added that in last 10 months the Modi Government had worked for only industrialists and capitalists.
When asked why the BSP did not join the all-party march led by Sonia Gandhi, she said BSP purposefully avoided that march because it did not want to send a signal that her party is joining hands with Congress.
“The Dalit icons were being insulted and the ideology of social justice ignored. Reservation for the Dalits and backwards are being ignored as industrialists and capitalist forces are being promoted in this Government,” she said. The BSP president also criticised the BJP Government for scrapping many pro-poor schemes and curtailing subsidy being given to the poor. “Centre can provide sops to the industrialists by giving rebate in corporate tax, but the poor are being targeted in this Budget,” she said. “The Indian Government should confer Bharat Ratna on BSP founder Kansi Ram. He worked for the upliftment of dalits. Ignoring him is like an insult to the society,” she said.
“BJP tried to lure dalits during the 2014 lok Sabha elections but failed to get positive response. The dalits know that BJP is only interested in dividing the country on religious lines and therefore have ignored them,” she said The former CM also demanded that Uttar Pradesh should be divided into four parts and also demanded setting up a bench of the Allahabad High Court in the Western UP.