BJP targetting me for raising voice on EVM tampering: Mayawati
14 April 2017 6:15 PM GMT
BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday accused the BJP of targeting her for raising a voice against alleged EVM tampering and said she was not averse to shaking hands with other parties in her fight against the saffron party on the issue.
"I'm being targetted under a conspiracy so that I stop speaking on EVM tampering by the BJP...but I'm not going to withdraw from this fight to save democracy," she said at an Ambedkar anniversary function of her party here.
"Our party will continue to fight against the tampering of EVMs by the BJP. For this BSP now has no reservations in taking the help of anti-BJP parties in its fight against EVM tampering and the BJP as it is the democracy which comes first...we have to keep democracy alive," she said.
"It is in the interest of the party that EVM tampering is checked at the earliest for which we are ready to use venom against venom," she said.
"The BJP gained power in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by tampering EVMs...but we realised this only in the recent elections," she said, adding that EVMs were tampered with in some 250 seats of 403 in the state. "On other seats they thought they will win anyway," she said. The BSP chief who had announced that her party will hold protests on every 11th of the month on the issue said this programme has been put on hold as the matter is now in the apex court.
Addressing the first programme of her party after a dismal show in the recent Assembly elections, Mayawati, in a major announcement, also appointed her younger brother Anand Kumar as the party's vice president.
"I have decided to give important responsibility to my brother Anand Kumar, that of party's national vice president, with the condition that he will work selflessly and
never become an MP, MLA, minister or chief minister," she said.
Elaborating on the reasons for giving her brother this responsibility, Mayawati said as she has to spend maximum time in Lucknow she needed someone in Delhi for sharing her burden. "I had to rush to Delhi every four to five days for signing papers but since our party constitution provides for same signing rights to the vice president, it will save party's money," she said.
Stressing that her brother will continue to do his business as before so that he is not dependent on anyone financially, she also allowed him to bring any other member of the family, having a missionary zeal, in the party fold.
Speaking for the first time before party workers on her medical condition which she said has forced her not to speak loudly. She said she has instead been advised to read written texts by doctors.
The BSP chief has been under fire following a recent decision of the Yogi Adityanath government to order a probe into sale of sugar mills and construction of memorials under her government.
"It is being projected as if I'm responsible whereas I have never held either of the departments...the sugar department was headed by Naseemuddin but he did not take the decision to sell it, it was taken by the Cabinet," she said.
"A thorough inquiry should be conducted into the Rs 1,100 crore scam. If necessary, the state government would also recommend a CBI inquiry into the issue," the chief minister had said when presentations about sugarcane development department were made before him last week.
SC should decide triple talaq issue: BSP chief
BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday said the Supreme Court should decide the issue of triple talaq as per the Constitution to ensure justice for Muslim women.
"Our party wants the Supreme Court to take a decision on the issue of triple talaq as per the Indian Constitution, keeping the state and central governments out," she said while speaking at Ambedkar Jayanti function of the party here. "From media reports, it does not seem that senior persons associated with the Muslim personal law boards are serious about Muslim women getting justice on the issue of triple talaq...we do not feel that the board will be able to ensure justice for Muslim women soon...the apex court should ensure justice for them," she said.
In October last year, Mayawati had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his stance on the issue, saying such matters should be left to the Muslim community and not be raked up, specially on election eve, for political gains.
"The prime minister and the central government instead of interfering in the issue of triple talaq should better leave it to the Muslim community to form a common opinion," she had said. Raising a question mark on the functioning of the Yogi Adityanath government, Mayawati said its policies are hollow.
The closure of slaughterhouses has forced those involved in its trade to knock the doors of the court, she said.
On demands to close down liquor shops in populated areas, she said her party supported it but termed as unfortunate the BJP government's silence on the issue for its economic gains and capitalist mentality. They have maintained silence as they know that the areas where there are liquor shops are inhabited by Dalits, backwards and the poor among the upper castes whom this government wants to harm though liquor shops, she said.
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