Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have accepted defeat in the coming Assembly polls in the State, Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) supremo Mayawati stick to `sarvjan hitai, sarvjan sukhai’ motto by balancing her party's caste combination while choosing candidates. She also reiterated that her Party will not forge any pre-poll alliance.
Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to restrict political Parties in using religion or caste during the elections, Mayawati said the move was good and she accepts it. Claiming her sarva samaj ideology in the distribution of assembly tickets and ridiculing the charges of the Opposition Parties that BSP is a dalit based Party, Mayawati has given the highest ticket to upper caste followed by backwards, muslims and dalits.
"Noor( glow) of the face of both Modi and Shah were missing during Monday's BJP rally in lucknow and by announcing that UP elections would not be an issue of win or defeat but it would be a poll for responsibility shows that they have accepted the defeat before the elections," she said. "Could the responsibility given by the people in 2014 lok Sabha elections have been fulfilled by Modi and his team. It is a big question and now they are again trying to confuse the people in UP. Not a single promise was fulfilled after BJP came to power at the Centre, and now they are again talking about responsibility of UP," she said.
Addressing her first press conference in 2017, Mayawati though did not announce the Party's candidates for the assembly elections but gave the details of the caste who would be fielded in the elections in all the 403 seats, thus ruling out any pre-poll alliances. According to Mayawati, out of the total 403 assembly seats in UP the major chunk of 113 seats will go to the upper caste with Brahmin getting the major share of 66 seats, Thakur 36 and rest 11 to Kayasth, Vaishya and others. The Other Backward Caste(OBCs) would get 106 seats while there would be 97 muslim candidates in the fray. The Dalit will have 87 seats, 85 in the reserved seats and two from the general seat. In her one hour long statement before media, the former UP CM said that candidates have been fixed in all the 403 seats and none will be changed now. But the names would be announced after the declaration of the poll dates by EC, she said.
Meanwhile alleging that BJP could target BSP's senior leaders before the UP elections, Mayawati said that people will teach BJP a lesson for its demonetisation move without any preparation besides, the BJP are not ready to give details about their own assets acquired before November 8. Reacting on the ongoing fight within the ruling Samajwadi party, the BSP chief said," the dispute would create division in the Yadav vote bank and hence Muslims should support BSP so that BJP could be prevented in UP."
There is a total nexus between SP and BJP and hence Modi did not made any remarks against the SP's family dispute on Monday, which should be a glaring example about their hobnobbing, she said. Claiming that dalit vote bank would be decider in the coming assembly polls, she said each of the 403 seats in UP have dalit votes between 50,000 to over one lakh and addition of Muslim votes or the caste votes of the candidates can give the BSP an edge in the elections.
"Yadav vote bank are decisive in just around 60-70 seats in the state and as now when it will be divided in view of the SP infighting, their role is almost finished," she said while adding that her party has always promoted all caste and community, including Muslims during her four regime in the state.
When asked if BSP was such supporter of Muslims, then why her party did not win a seat in the 2014 lok Sabha, she clarified that as the people were annoyed with the UPA government hence Muslims got confused and their votes got divided against the BJP. "Muslims too had to bear the brunt as their representation got eroded in the Parliament due to their mistake," she claimed.
Mayawati, most time in her press meet attacked Modi and the BJP with alleging that they are now trying to woo the dalits on the name of Dr B R Ambedkar. " By making some memorials or announcing some schemes or eating with dalits, a party or leader cannot be a dalit sympathiser," she quipped while alleging that BJP was adopting the RSS ideology and was trying to hit the reservation policy given by Dr Ambedkar by promoting private companies, where there is no reservation in employment.
Mayawati further attacked Modi and said that there are several instances that the BJP government at the centre was protecting the failed SP government in UP. "Was it was not their responsibility to get relieve of the SP government by imposing President's rule in the state when they themselves say that law and order and corruption was rampant. Why they had waited," she questioned. Mayawati added that during the present SP rule, the communal violence was at peak which helped both the BJP and SP." The communal riots at Muzaffarnagar, Dadri and Bulandshahr were the incidents which created major law and order problem but both the Congress and BJP kept their eyes closed," she said.
Hitting out at the Congress, she said that the Party was in ICU in the state with have no base. Hence Muslims should also not consider them at all to vote in the coming UP elections as it will only help the BJP at last. Demonetisation, was however, the main topic of the Mayawati press meeting alleging that it was a 'curse' for the people of the country imposed by the Modi government on 90 per cent of the population.
While the BJP and its industrialists friends have converted their black money well before November 8, but the poor people of the country were forced to stand on the queues leading to death of more than 100 people, she said. BSP leader also alleged that BJP had made several lakh fake members to legalize their blackmoney and even they had paid in advance all the money for purchasing and construction of party buildings in different parts of the country 10 month before demonetisation which shows their conspiracy.