BSP chief Mayawati took a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday, saying that the latter will look after governance when he gets time off from ‘pooja-paath’ (worship) in the temples of Ayodhya, Chitrakoot and Gorakhnath. The former chief minister also said she would convert to Buddhism if the BJP and RSS do not change their casteist and communal mindset towards Dalits, tribals, backwards and those who had converted to other religions.
Mayawati was speaking at a rally in SP veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Lok Sabha constituency Azamgarh. Recalling the party’s ideology coined by founder Kanshiram, Mayawati said that Dalits, tribals and backwards, who were made to become “helpless slaves” under the ‘varna vyavastha’ (class system) of the Hindu religion, got legal rights to education, farming, employment and politics because of their “messiah” Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and not any Hindu god or goddess. “If the Ram temple is now built in Ayodhya or temples of other gods are built in different places, it will not help the poor and weaker sections economically. Your poverty and unemployment will not end,” the BSP chief said.
Targeting the chief minister, she said, “Adityanath belongs to Gorakhpur of eastern UP but does not pay special attention to development of the region. He only makes statements.” “The people thought that if a person from eastern UP becomes CM, he will pay attention towards development of the region. But the opposite has happened,” she added.
“Wo dhyan kahan se rakhein.. usko mandiron me puja-paath se to fursat miley… kabhi apne mandir mein Gorakhpur mein, kabhi Ayodhya mein..kabhi Chitrakot mein aur jab yahan se kaam nahi chalta to bahar ke rajyon me tilak laga ke wo puja paath me hi laga rehta hai. Aisi stithi mein purvanchal ko chhodo..purey pradesh ka vikas nahi ho sakta. (How will he look after development? He has no time to spare from worshipping in either the temples of Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Chitrakoot. He even goes to other states to do pooja-paath. In this situation, forget the Purvachal, even the rest of the state cannot progress)”
She further said that while Ambedkar was never against Hinduism, he was against the ill-practices of discrimination among human beings on caste lines that existed in the religion. “Ambedkar had given 21 years to Shankaracharyas and thekedars of Hinduism to make changes, but when it did not happen, he left the religion and embraced Buddhism in Nagpur on October 14, 1956,” Mayawati added.
“I am openly challenging BJP, RSS and company that if they do not change their casteist and communal thinking of hatred against Dalits, tribals, backwards, converted people and their leaders, I will also be forced to take the decision to leave Hindu religion and embrace Buddhism with crores of people who are victims of this system,” the BSP chief said.
Mayawati also said that the BJP could start building the Ram temple in Ayodhya before Lok Sabha elections to cover up the failures of the central and its state governments to get votes. BJP, in its political interest, can also bring Dawood Ibrahim to India through ‘saanth-gaanth’ and to attract Hindus. Its government could also execute another surgical strike, she claimed.
Speaking about her visit to the violence-hit Shabbirpur in Saharanpur district earlier this year, Mayawati alleged that her helicopter was denied permission to land and proper security arrangements were not made. The BJP’s game plan to murder her failed, she further claimed.
Regarding her resignation from Rajya Sabha in July, she claimed she did so when she was not allowed to speak on the Saharanpur incident in the House. “Chahe BJP & company ke log apni in kamiyon par parda dalne ke liye yahan Mathura, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot ke saath saath anya teertha sthano par bhi aaye din khoob puja paath aadi kyun na karte rahein…ab Uttar Pradesh sahit desh ki janata inke kisi dharmik bhavna ke behkave me aane wali nahi hai (Whether BJP does its pooja-paath here, in Mathura, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot or any other religious place to hide its drawbacks, the people of UP and the rest of the country will not be fooled),” Mayawati said.
She also said that it appeared that the BJP would contest Lok Sabha elections on the agenda of Hindutva only. Claiming that she has no “greed for money”, the BSP chief said she had once resigned from the CM’s post in the interest of her party and its movement.
