Mayawati pitches to regain Dalit-Muslim votes; 2 killed at Lucknow rally

Addressing the Dalit and Muslim constituency of her party, Mayawati said, “To stop the BJP, the vote should not go to either the Samajwadi Party or the Congress as with every Assembly seat having 22 to 23 per cent Dalit votes, BSP can sail through with the help of Muslim votes or else the same scenario can emerge that was seen in 2014 (Lok Sabha polls).”

She also rejected the possibility of pre or post-poll alliance with any party. Addressing party workers, she said that there would be no such thing during forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab. She accused BJP of taking political advantage of the recent happenings on the India-Pakistan border saying that all credit goes to the army and our brave soldiers.

In a related development, two women were on killed and at least 12 people injured in a stampede after the massive rally, which was held at the Kanshi Ram Smarak Maidan. “A few people coming down the stairs at one of the two gates lost balance and fell on each other. Shanti Devi (68) of Bijnore and another unidentified woman were killed in the incident due to suffocation,” police said.

Alleging that minorities were facing bias under Modi government, BSP also cautioned Muslims that voting for Samajwadi Party or Congress would only help BJP and sought their support “to stop” the saffron party. 

“Ever since the BJP government has come at the Centre, Muslims, and other minorities are being subjected to bias. The minority status of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia is being snatched away. Communal forces are becoming stronger and Muslims are being targeted in the name of love jihad, ‘gau raksha’ (cow protection) and religious conversion,” the BSP supremo alleged launching a blistering attack on the Modi government.

Mayawati also made it clear that her party would fight alone in the three states going to polls early next year–Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab and cautioned the people to ignore canards that BSP might enter into an understanding with the BJP in case it fell short of a majority.

Coming down heavily on the ruling Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said because of “rampant crime and anarchy” incidents such as Muzaffarnagar, Dadri, Mathura and Bulandshahr occurred and promised to restore rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. “There is a tussle for supremacy going on between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav and this will split Yadav votes and defeat their candidates,” Mayawati added.