‘Communal tension not good for country’s development’

BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday expressed concern over communal tension saying it was not good for development of the country and targeted Narendra Modi for the Gujarat riots.

‘If the shadow of communal tension looms on the horizon, then there will be little prospect of development in the country,’ she told an election rally here.

Mayawati directly targeted BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for his ‘responsibility in failing to control communal riots in Gujarat in 2002’.

‘His track record is not good for the country,’ she said, adding that when she was Chief Minister there was not a single communal riot in Uttar Pradesh.

‘See what happened when the Samajwadi Party government is in power,’ she said.

Referring to Muslims, Mayawati said, ‘If you wish to defeat communal forces, then don’t waste your vote by dividing the secular vote between Congress and SP. Congress is a spent force and you know SP’s track record – what had happened in Muzaffarnagar.

‘If goons and mafia dons are handed over the reins of power as is the case in UP today then no one can feel secure,’ she said.

Attacking the economic policies of Congress and BJP, Mayawati said both the parties had been in power at the Centre and their policies had damaged country’s economy.

‘There policies are designed to help big corporate houses.

If the corporates rule the economy, then the interests of the common man can never be protected,’ she said.

Stating that Congress had failed to provide a special economic package for UP despite persistent efforts on her part during her regime, Mayawati said she was in favour of dividing UP into two parts so that all parts of the present state could make progress but ‘Congress did not let it happen’.

Referring to her policy of ‘Sarva Samaj’, Mayawati said she had always advocated reservation in government jobs as it was meant for the most under privileged sections.

‘But, I am also a votary for reservation benefits to the economically poor among upper castes,’ she said.