BJP slaves like Athawale working to divide Dalit votes: Mayawati

BSP supremo Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati Saturday hit back at Union Minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale, who had on Friday asked why she had not converted to Buddhism. Calling Athawale “BJP’s slave”, Mayawati she “will definitely convert to Buddhism but with crores of Dalits of this country, when the time comes”.

In an interview to The Indian Express on Friday, the leader from Maharashtra had Friday called on Dalits to convert to Buddhism, and questioned the atrocities on his community members in Gujarat in the name of gau raksha (cow protection). On Saturday, Mayawati charged Athawale of working with an aim to achieve BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of “dividing Dalit votes and making them work as slaves of other parties”.

To achieve this goal, Mayawati said in a statement, “the BJP and PM Modi have recently inducted some ministers with a slave mentality into the Cabinet. RPI’s Ramdas Athawale is one of them”.

On Athawale’s assertion that she should convert to Buddhism “if she claims to be a true Ambedkarite”, Mayawati said the leader “must think why B R Ambedkar decided to convert only in the last phase of his life…” “He did not show any hurry in shunning Hinduism and adopting Buddhism. He kept on preparing his people. That is why when he converted, lakhs of people followed him,” she said. (With PTI Inputs)