Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati questioned the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on his ‘Sah Bhoj’ (Community feast) with Dalits in Gorakhpur on Wednesday.
“Such act by the BJP leaders are just a drama to confuse people as everyone knows how these saffron brigade is anti-dalit and other backward castes,” she said in a statement here on Thursday. Mayawati said BJP had always gone against the Dalits, tribals and the backwards and from time to time their leaders do drama to confuse them.
“Everyone knows the ‘Chaal, Charitra and Chehra (movement, character and face) of the BJP and their leaders and such drama would not at all will make any difference,” she claimed. The reaction of the BSP president comes in wake of Adityanath attending a Sah Bhoj with the Dalits in Gorakhpur after unveiling a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, on Wednesday.
She said that such feasts will neither change the face of the saffron party nor benefit the underprivileged. Had there been even an “iota of honesty” in BJP’s intentions or policies, the Saharanpur incident would not have taken such a serious turn and atrocities would not be continuing against Dalits, she said further according to the release issued on Thursday.
“The failure to arrest the main accused of casteist violence in Saharanpur and victims still not getting justice are proof of BJP’s anti-dalit mindset in the state and this is similar to what is going on in other states where BJP is in power,” she said. Mayawati said the members of dalit and other backward castes are still forced to live in dismal conditions as they have not been able to get their constitutional rights. It is the duty of the government to extend justice to them, she said.
“This is also the reason as to why the parks and memorials installed in honour of saints and great men born in these sections of society are today lying in a state of utter neglect ... BSP has been continuously drawing the attention of the government towards this apathy,” she asserted.