BJP’s money-minting comments show casteist, envious thinking: Mayawati

At a rally in Mau Saturday, Shah had said that BSP founder Kanshi Ram had “a pure heart” with a vision for the upliftment of Dalits while Mayawati turned the party into “a machine to make money”.

“BSP’s supporters give not just votes but also notes (money) to the party, whose founder, Kanshi Ram, himself observed my birthday on January 15 as economic assistance day,” Mayawati said.

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She added: “Money is required to run any party or movement and BSP collects funds from small donations made by its workers and followers… BJP and Congress take money from big capitalists and moneybags and run their governments as per the donors’ orders.”

Mayawati claimed that BJP, whose leaders are levelling allegations against her in their public meetings, and Congress, envy how BSP gets donations from the “hard-earned” money of BSP supporters, while these parties “have to indulge in corruption and immoral activities” for the same.

Claiming that BSP is a “transparent, clean and straight-talking party” which acts upon its words, she said the party follows the principle of “sarvajan hitay and sarvajan sukhay and works more and talks less”. “While Modi government talks about Ambedkar, the community members are looked at with casteist disdain because the government has something else in its heart… Its functionaries shut their eyes on the atrocities faced by the community and conspire to snatch their constitutional right of reservation…” she added.

Mayawati claimed that the importance Modi has given to his foreign trips and the image makeover in abroad shows he does not worry about solving “burning” problems in the country such as inflation, unemployment, drought and flood. “Congress, BJP and SP will not fight the next Assembly elections on the issue of development, but they will indulge in polarising people on religion and caste lines, spreading false propaganda and maligning others’ characters,” she said.

The former UP CM also targeted the SP government over the caving-in of a part of a bridge over Gomti river in Lucknow. “The state government has not paid any attention to the incident on a road used by VIPs, and it did not initiate any action… People want the next BSP government to initiate action in all such matters of poor construction and punish those found guilty…” she said.