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Mayawati challenges BJP, Congress
Agencies Posted online: Wednesday, Apr 14, 2010 at 1427 hrs
Lucknow : Throwing an open challenge to her detractors, BSP supremo
Mayawati on Wednesday said her party and government would not get
bogged down by the opposition criticism of memorials and parks built
in memory of Dalit leaders.
"The anti-Dalit and anti-Ambedkar mentality of opposition parties can
be seen today in the stiff opposition to the BSP, which follows
Ambedkar's ideology," she said, adding "it was because of this that
the issue of memorials and parks was under severe criticism and was
also dragged to courts."
In her brief address after paying floral tributes to B R Ambedkar on
his 119th birth anniversary, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said,
"Neither the BSP nor my government will bow down even a bit to the
criticism of opposition parties on the memorials and parks set up in
honour of these great men and will leave no stone unturned to provide
them due respect."
Speaking at the sprawling Bhimrao Ambedkar Samajik Privartan Sthal,
one of the dream projects of her government for which she had faced
flak, Mayawati was critical of successive central governments
specially the Congress for "ignoring" great men belonging to Dalit and
backward castes.
"It was the anti-Dalit mentality which stopped the successive Congress
and BJP governments from giving due respect to these saints and great
men", she said, terming the Congress role as "condemnable"
Stressing that it was the anti-Dalit mentality because of which
Ambedkar was denied Bharat Ratna by the successive central
governments, she said it was only when the BSP entered Parliament for
the first time in 1990 that this "folly" was rectified.
"Had the successive Central governments taken care to give due respect
to the great men belonging to Dalit and backward castes, I would not
have to do so," she said.
The BSP president, who is scheduled to make an aerial survey of the
dharnas being staged by her party all over the state today against
Women's Reservation Bill, said though her party was not against the
measure, it would not serve any purpose without a separate quota for
the Dalit, backward, minorities and poor among the upper castes."
Mayawati said Ambedkar too had similar views on the subject.
BSP leaders and workers gathered at the spot raise d slogans against
those opposing construction of memorials and parks for Dalit leaders.
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