Struggle, make backwards the ruling class: Mayawati to workers

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Unfazed by her party’s poor performance in the Delhi elections and in the elections in her home state of Uttar Pradesh before that, the BSP leader asked workers to prepare for the elections in West Bengal even as she clarified that the leadership would not be able to provide “huge financial support” to the candidates.
“We will of course provide a certain amount of funds. But you will largely have to fight with whatever means are available to you. We will not be providing a vast amount of funds for the elections. I urge you (workers and leaders) to struggle and raise the number of cadre members. Until you increase the strength of the party here (in Bengal), there is no chance of winning or even making a dent (in opposition parties’ vote count). This is your struggle,” she said.

Mayawati asked workers to reach out to the downtrodden sections of the society in the state. “If you work hard you can win seats in Bengal too. It’s really sad that we still don’t have an MLA in Bengal,” she added.

The BSP leader accused the BJP and Congress of “not doing enough for Dalits”.

“We took care of all the minorities, especially Muslims. Even in the private sector, where there is no reservation, we introduced reservation and ensured that people from the backward classes would get contracts. In business enterprises it’s difficult for dalits and other backward classes to do well because they simply don’t have the capital to invest,” she said.

She, however, refrained from commenting on the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD research scholar of Hyderabad Central University who was found hanging inside the college campus Sunday.