Lakhs in Lucknow cheer, Maya gives Advani her stage

‘‘Everyone present will continue to debate how many lakhs turned up,’’ he said at the dhikkaar rally—named as a snub to Mulayam—in Lucknow, ‘‘but there are no two opinions that it’s the largest rally ever organised in the history of Lucknow.’’

Advani wasn’t exaggerating. Flanked by BSP chief Kanshi Ram and UP Chief Minister Mayawati, chief guest Advani said: ‘‘Such a massive crowd can never turn up for a rally organised by a political party, it is clearly indicative of an andolan (revolution)…And the andolan sparks from anger at the insult to the country’s hero, the father of our Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar.’’

This was a direct rebuff to the Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav who is said to have recently claimed that ‘‘the Ambedkar Park built by Mayawati is an ayyashi ka adda’’ (a den for decadence).

As if in response to critics who have accused Mayawati of going soft on the Babri Masjid demolition case against Advani, the Deputy Prime Minister invoked the name of the Gujarat commando Allah Rakha Khan who was killed in the encounter with the Akshardham terrorists. ‘‘Those who have gathered at today’s rally are being called anti-Muslim,’’ he said. ‘‘How shameful…when the fact is that Allah Rakha Khan died trying to defend Akshardham.’’

Mayawati, who spoke after Kanshi Ram and Advani, said her refusal to issue a fresh notification in the demolition case did not mean a clean chit to the BJP leaders. ‘‘The case is before the court and till the final verdict, nobody can be called guilty,’’ she said.

While the reason behind organising the rally was the BSP’s desire to avenge the SP’s Ambedkar insult and to flaunt its strength in numbers, the BJP too got mileage.