Maya blames SP, BJP for Agra flare-up

In keeping with the responsibilities of her new role as Bahujan Samaj Party national president, Mayawati called a press conference to issue a statement on two ‘‘national’’ issues — Dalit-Muslim clashes in Agra and the VHP’s Ayodhya programme. Mayawati accused the BJP and Mulayam Singh Yadav of colluding to provoke communal passions and to put a wedge between Dalits and Muslims.

‘‘The communal and anti-Dalit BJP is using Mulayam to achieve its goals of spreading communalism by staging the Ayodhya movement at this juncture and provoking riots between Muslims and Dalits. Is it not surprising the VHP rakes up the Ayodhya issue on the eve of elections?’’ she asked.

Mayawati said she feared the VHP would perpetrate Godhra-like incidents in the near future in view of Assembly polls in five states: ‘‘In Gujarat, the BJP cashed in on the Godhra incident to retain power, the BJP-VHP combine may repeat such incidents.”