Congress Enemy No. 1,says Maya

The Congress had tried to create an impression that Kanshiram used to manage fund to run his party from outside.But this could not stop the workers from donating fund to run the party,she added.

The BSP chief also made a comparison between her party’s progress and the first 25 years of the Congress. “The BSP has a glorious history in the first 25 years in comparison to that of the Congress party’s primary stage,” she said. She said although several of its leaders left,her party continues to make progress.

Terming the Congress as anti-Dalit,she said this was proved by the failure of the UPA-1 government to declare national mourning even for a single day Congress Enemy No. 1,says Mayaafter the death of Kanshiram in 2006. “This is an example of the Congress’s anti-Dalit attitude,” she added.

She also described the Women’s Reservation Bill as an anti-Dalit move of the Congress. She said her party would hold a demonstration against the Bill on October 14.

The Chief Minister also criticised the opposition parties,particularly the Congress,for raising questions over the construction of memorials and parks in the honour of Dalit and backward community personalities.

Referring to her own statues in parks and memorials,she said: “Is there any law that stops the construction of anyone’s statue in his or her lifetime?”

She said the construction of statutes of elephants has nothing to do with her party’s election symbol. Stating that her government has distributed bicycles under the Savitri Bai Phule Schemes,she said,“So,the symbol of the SP should be banned.”

Similarly,she said people waving hands is common so the Congress should also be prohibited from using hand as it election symbol. In her speech,Mayawati also spoke about the party’s growth over the years and announced that party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra,considered the architect of the BSP’s Dalit-Brahmin social engineering,would now head the party’s legal cell. Mishra would not attend political programmes of the party at the cost of legal matters,she said.

21-LAKH SALUTE
UP CM Mayawati was presented with a giant garland made of 1,000-rupee notes at a rally to mark 25 years of the BSP in Lucknow on Monday. Naseemuddin Siddiqui,the state’s PWD Minister,said the garland was worth Rs 21 lakh,and had been presented to Mayawati by the BSP’s Lucknow unit. The state Opposition immediately demanded a CBI probe. Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav alleged the notes were people’s money amassed through corrupt means by her ministers. Congress leader Akhilesh Singh said the RBI and the Income Tax department should take suo motu notice of this and find out where the money has come from. The state vice-president of the BJP,Hriday Narain Dixit,said this was one more example of BSP’s attempt to institutionalise corruption.