Following an appeal by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari to support Congress, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday urged the minority electorate in Uttar Pradesh to vote for her party. Claiming she had the support of Dalits in the State, she said if the Muslims too were to vote for her party, this would cut short BJP’s joyride.
The BSP chief was speaking at a public rally in Ghaziabad on Saturday in support of her party candidate Mukul Upadhyay from the constituency. Mayawati further said that to build a peaceful and safe environment for all, the BJP must be stonewalled from assuming power at the Centre. Holding BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi responsible for the 2002 Godhra riots, she said if he is the nation’s next Prime Minister, it would only augur peril for the country.
“To rebuff him, the Muslims have to vote for the BSP. The Dalit-Muslim vote combine should stem the Modi tide,” she said. Attacking Congress, the BSP chief said the party has wrecked the country. Moreover, the Congress-led Government failed to take any action on her proposal to carve up UP into four States. “It did not approve other development related projects. The BSP would implement all its proposals if voted to power,” she added.
Mayawati also launched a scathing attack on BJP terming the saffron fold ‘untrustworthy’. “Ghaziabad residents elected Rajnath Singh but he fled leaving the city when the city needed him most. This time, the BJP candidate will lose his security deposit,” she said.
She said the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, Muslims, Parsis and Buddhists should stand united in their support for the BSP. “They had been humiliated during the Samajwadi Government in UP. The Congress had been apathetic to the State; the BJP communal. The only option before secular India is the BSP,” she said.