BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday accused the BJP, Congress and the SP of being "extremely casteist" and "anti-reservation" and called upon people to give a befitting reply to the detractors of party founder Kanshi Ram by obtaining the "master key" of electoral success.
Coming down heavily on the Samajwadi Party (SP), she said that merely levelling malicious allegations will not serve any purpose as the people of Uttar Pradesh as well as the country are seeing as to who has been the "B" team of which party and is still active in that form.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) attack was a riposte to the SP accusing it of colluding with the saffron party.
Paying tributes to party founder Kanshi Ram on his birth anniversary, she called for giving a befitting reply to his detractors by obtaining the "master key" of electoral success.
The BSP supremo paid floral tributes at a statue of Kanshi Ram at the party office early morning and charged that the party founder and his followers have been subjected to contempt.
In a statement issued by the party later, Mayawati termed the BJP, Congress and the SP "extremely casteist" and alleged that they were anti-reservation.
"The country is still in the grip of a casteist government and similar elements and can get rid of this curse only when the oppressed people, through their constitutional right to vote, get in control of power in the state and the country. This is for which BSP has been established," she said.
The people of the country, especially Uttar Pradesh, have seen the BJP, Congress and SP and their "extreme casteist and anti-reservation" attitude as well as the game of "depriving" the SC, ST, OBC, Muslim and religious minorities of their legal rights, she alleged.
"The difference between the words and deeds of these parties has also been seen by the people, proving that all these parties are the same. The SC (Scheduled Caste), ST (Scheduled Tribe), OBC (Other Backward Classes) and Muslim society should not make the mistake of hoping for any real good for themselves from these parties," she said.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, Mayawati said, "Tributes to honourable Kanshi Ram who gave strength and momentum to the self-respect movement of the most revered Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar by making the deprived and exploited 'bahujan samaj' a political force."
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the "bahujan" movement was strengthened by him on the ground. Under the party-led governments in Uttar Pradesh, crores of people were given benefits leading to their social transformation and economic emancipation.
However, the process of "neglect, contempt and conspiracy" against the followers of Kanshi Ram by his opponents continues even today and a proper answer to it needs to be given by getting the master key of electoral success and power, the BSP president added.
"Merely levelling malicious allegations will not serve any purpose as the state and the country are seeing as to who has been the 'B' team of which party and is still active in that form," she said, hitting out at the SP.
The Samajwadi Party has often accused the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of working like the B team of the BJP.
The SP and the BSP had buried their past enmity and jointly fought against the BJP in the last parliamentary elections and had won 15 seats out of a total of 80 in Uttar Pradesh.
But, their bonhomie ended soon after the polls and the two major opposition parties of Uttar Pradesh had charted a separate course in the crucial state elections last year.
The opposition disunity had worked in favor of the BJP which returned to power in the politically significant state.
The SP managed to increase its tally in the 403-member Assembly after the 2022 polls but failed to prevent the return of the saffron party to power.
The BSP had fared extremely badly managing just one seat in the state polls.
Targeting the BJP government of the state, the BSP leader said, "In this vast state, people are suffering from rising inflation, poverty, unemployment and insecurity about life and property etc due to the wrong policies of the government and activities full of malice and partiality. Dalits and backwards are specially sad and distressed under this government," she said.
By making the reservation for these classes inactive and ineffective, the government is playing with the future of crores of youths, she said.
On the upcoming local body elections, Mayawati underlined the need for utmost caution and asked her supporters to be vigilant.
-With PTI Input
