To reach out, Maya looks beyond her written script

WHEN IT comes to campaign speeches, BJP chief Mayawati isn’t exactly known for the impromptu flourish — she reads out her one-hour-long speech that has, by now, a predictable routine: attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his government, the BJP and RSS, state’s Samajwadi Party government and Congress. All in language, formal and staid.

But midway through this campaign season, Mayawati is trying to go off-script, marking a clear departure from her tradition.

Off-the-cuff remarks and issues that have rarely made it to her speeches are being heard more and more. The objective,