In an oblique reference to the BJP's recent attempts to aggressively woo a section of Dalits and OBCs, Mayawati told…
BSP supremo Mayawati (Photo: SNS)
In an oblique reference to the BJP's recent attempts to aggressively woo a section of Dalits and OBCs, Mayawati told her supporters to not get hoodwinked by such "antics".
"They are working hard to disown their anti-Dalit and anti-OBC past. Their decision to appoint an OBC (Keshav Prasad Maurya) as the state president in place of a Brahmin (Laxmi Kant Vajpayee) was just a clever ploy you should beware of," the BSP supremo remarked.
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"If, by an accident, the BJP happens to come to power in UP then backed by the government at the Centre, the party will work towards fulfilling the RSS agenda of doing away with reservations," she said.
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"Reservations for Dalits was a direct result of the endeavours of of Baba Saheb Ambedkar. When V P Singh became the Prime Minister, he posthumously conferred Bharat Ratna on Ambedkar and implemented Mandal Commission whereby the reservation facility was extended to Backward Classes.
"Our Dalit and OBC friends must not forget that it was the BJP which pulled down Singh's government and it was BJP supporters who held violent agitations demanding withdrawal of Mandal," the BSP chief said.
Mayawati also questioned the Prime Minister's OBC status and alleged that he belongs to an upper caste.
"He belongs to an upper caste called Ghanchi, which we call Teli (oilpresser) in our part of the country. When Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had deliberately got his caste group included in OBC list to place a hurdle in the way of backward classes realising their full potential," she claimed.
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