As Congress, SP pay tribute to Kanshi Ram, they target Mayawati for ‘secret understanding with BJP’

He claimed that Mayawati’s grand rally in Lucknow on the occasion of Kanshi Ram’s death anniversary was being held with Bihar elections in mind.

“She (Mayawati) is organising the rally at the behest of the BJP and is engaging in vote politics by misleading the Dalit community.  Today’s rally has proven that Mayawati ji is a true member of the BJP and a supporter of the RSS,” Rai said at the seminar.

Praising senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for being “committed to the Dalit cause”, Rai said, “Rahul Gandhi is leading a struggle from the house to the streets against the injustice and atrocities against the Dalits in the country. Our leader Rahul Gandhi is determined to complete the unfinished mission of Kanshi Ram,” Rai added.

Congress leader and spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said, “We thank Behen Kumari Mayawati that she has made BSP’s thinking and opinion clear before the public by praising Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. She is targeting the Congress party and Opposition, who have been fighting for the rights of Dalits and the deprived.”

Reminding Mayawati of the incidents of crime against Dalits during the BJP regime, Awasthi said, “Be it Hathras, Umbha, Lakhimpur Kheri, Rae Bareli, Azamgarh, neither the BSP nor Mayawati was visible anywhere. Today, she is thanking the chief minister, in whose rule, Dalits have been targeted the most.”

Later in the day, Congress leaders, led by Rai, reached Samta Mulkar Square and paid tribute to Kanshi Ram by garlanding his statue.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party also held a similar event at their party office with former BSP leader RK Chaudhary taking the lead in organising it.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said party leaders discussed the contributions of Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, and Ram Manohar Lohia at the event. When asked about Mayawati’s praise for the BJP government at Thursday’s rally, Akhilesh said, “Iska matlab yeh hai ki anduruni santh-gaanth abhi jaari hai (This means that internal understanding between them is continuing).”

Refuting Mayawati’s allegations that the SP remembers PDA (Picchda, Dalit, and Alpsanjhyak) and Kanshi Ram only when out of power, Akhilesh said it was his government that had ordered the Lucknow Development Authority to maintain the memorials built by her.

“Ab agar julm karne walon ki woh abhari hain to main kya kar sakta hun (If she is grateful to those who did atrocities against the community, then what can I say),” Akhilesh said on Mayawati’s praise for the Yogi Adityanath government over the upkeep of the memorials.

BJP leaders, on the other hand, preferred to remain mute and did not issue any statement on the remarks made by the BSP chief, as well as the SP and Congress.

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