Maya asks Dalits to unite, win power

: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday called upon Dalits to unite under her party to win power at the Centre and in the states.

She cautioned the party supporters against the Dalit outfits launched allegedly on the direction of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide the schedule castes (SCs) community and to damage the prospects of the BSP in elections.

Mayawati, who paid tribute to BSP founder Kanshi Ram on his 14th death anniversary at Prerna Kendra, New Delhi, later alleged at a press conference that rival political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, had launched a campaign to defame the BSP over fund collection from party supporters.

The BSP followed the ideals of Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, she said, adding that the party collected funds from its supporters to run the organisation and to contest elections.

The four-time former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the BSP did not take donations from big capitalists and rich businessmen like rival parties did.

“If the BSP starts taking donations from capitalists and businessmen, then it will have to follow their directions and, when in power, it will have to frame policies for their benefit,” she said. Terming the Congress and BJP leaders casteist, feudal and narrow minded, Mayawati said their attitude towards the Dalits and the BSP was the same.

Both the parties were hatching a conspiracy against the BSP to stop it from coming to power at the Centre and in the states, she alleged.

To misguide the Dalits, the Congress leaders often accused the BSP of working as the B-team of the BJP, she said. The same jargon was used by the BJP leaders when the Congress was in power at the Centre, she said. The Dalits should understand the game plan of the Congress and BJP to divide the community for political gains, she cautioned. To serve their vested political interests, Congress and BJP leaders indulged in all types to political drama when there were incidents of atrocities on Dalits, she alleged. The example of the Hathras incident was before everyone, she said.

“The fact is that the Congress or BJP governments did nothing for the welfare and security of the Dalit community. Rather, the scheduled caste people were exploited and harassed under the BJP and Congress governments,” she said.