Farmers Movement Archive

If BSP voted to power, we will ensure security of Brahmins, says Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati continued with her outreach to Brahmins ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, promising to ensure the security of the Brahmin community if the party was voted to power next year. “Brahmins have agreed that under BSP’s rule, people from the Brahmin community were in better condition as compared to the current BJP’s rule. I assure the Brahmin community that if we come to power in the next elections, we will ensure their security,” she said while addressing the closing ceremony of ‘Prabudh Varga Sammelan’. “I promise that when the BSP forms the government in 2022, it will take care of the dignity, security and welfare of the Brahmin community in a similar manner as was done after the formation of the BSP government in 2007,” she added. The BSP leader’s assurance came days after she decided to take up the legal battle to secure bail for the 17-year-old widow of slain Brahmin gangster Vikas Dubey’s nephew, who too was shot in an encounter onJuly 8, 2020. Khushi Dubey has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder and criminal conspiracy, and has been lodged at a juvenile centre in Barabanki for a year. The party is reaching out to the community as part of its effort to grow its traditional voter base (composed mostly of Dalits) in the state. The BSP had earlier announced that it would expedite the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya if it was voted to power in the assembly elections.In her first public appearance at the party office since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic last year, the 65-year-old former chief ministeralso announced to initiate a high-level inquiry into any atrocities by the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government against the community and compensate for economic losses suffered during the period.Giving a clarion call for a “Dalit-Brahmin” unity to bring her party back to power in the state, Mayawati said both the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have indulged in empty talks to win the votes of Dalits and Brahmins, but neither safeguarded their interests when in power.“Unlike them, the BSP stands firm on its ‘Kathni aur karni (words and deeds)’, and this can be testified from its rule in Uttar Pradesh from 2007 to 2012, when security and welfare of Dalits and Brahmins, along with other sections of the society, were given top priority,” she said. Interestingly, both the SP and the BJP have also been wooing Brahmins, the latter even inducting the Congress’ Jitin Prasada into its tanks with the objective of reaching out to Brahmins. The BSP leader also promised to focus on the development of the state and not build memorials, parks and museums in the name of Dalit icons, something that characterised her last stint in power. “If I form the government again, I will not concentrate on statues or memorials or parks but on governing the state to the best possible ability,” she said. Reaching out to the farmers’ community, Mayawati promised to see that the contentious agricultural laws passed last year are not implemented in the state if the BSP came to power. “Our government will not only ensure that farmers get a genuine price for their products but also see that the three farm laws are not implemented in the state. At least 500 farmers have died but the BJP government remains unmoved,” she said. The BSP leader also took note of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks that the ancestors of Hindus and Muslims were the same, asking him to explain why the “BJP behaves as if Muslims are adopted”.In the 2017 state elections, the BJP won 325 seats out of a total of 403 Assembly seats. Samajwadi Party and its allies won 54 seats, and the BSP won a mere 19 .

Hindustan Times

08-09-2021

India