BSP had stalled Advani's rath yatra: Mayawati - Times of India

LALGANJ (Azamgarh): Homing in on the Muslim vote bank, BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday raked up the Ram Mandir issue, saying it was her party that had stalled the march of BJP leader L K Advani's 'rath yatra' in 1990.

"It was one of the key conditions our party imposed on [then prime minister] V P Singh for the BSP's support," she said while addressing a gathering at Saraimeer locality of Lalganj in Azamgarh district. "He managed to stop the rath yatra from entering Uttar Pradesh. The state would have otherwise plunged into serious communal tension. But this did not go down well with the BJP, which withdrew support from the government and it fell."

Mayawati also criticized BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, saying the BJP wanted to hand over the country's command to the man during whose regime the Godhra riots took place. "If he takes charge, the entire country will plunge into communal tension," she said.

Aware that the support of the OBCs might give the BJP a political edge, the BSP leader said even the reservation enjoyed by the OBCs was due to the BSP's efforts. This was the second condition put up before V P Singh, forcing him to apply the Mandal Commission recommendations, Mayawati said.

She then trained her guns on the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in UP. "Law and order was the biggest achievement of our party," Mayawati said. "But this government allowed riots to happen in which scores of Muslims and Hindus suffered." She went on to attack SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his family, saying: "Whatever they are today is because of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Or else both father and son would have been grazing cows and buffaloes in their village Saifai."

She said chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's mind was "full of poison for Dalit leaders". "That is why he has been accusing our government of indulging in wastage of public exchequer," Mayawati said.