BSP blames Congress for playing politics of religion

LUCKNOW - Peeved by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh at a rally in the Dalit bastion of Ambedkar Nagar, the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Wednesday blamed the Congress for playing the politics of religion.

“While talking about Uttar Pradesh being a victim of politics of religion and caste, Rahul Gandhi appears to have forgotten that it was the Congress that was responsible for fuelling these factors in the state,” state BSP chief Swami Prasad Maurya said in a statement.

“Rahul must know that the entire Ayodhya issue was a creation of the Congress, which first got the gates of the Ramjanmbhoomi unlocked, then allowed the ’shilaniyas’ to take place at the disputed site and eventually let the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) take out its controversial Rath Yatra to mobilise support for the Ayodhya temple,” said Maurya.

“BSP was the only party that was opposed to the politics of caste and religion; our motto of ’sarvajan hitaye; sarvajan sukhaye’ (benefit of all castes and the happiness of all) speaks volumes of what the party stands for,” he added.

Maurya not only termed Gandhi’s rally at Ambedkarnagar a “flop show”, but also accused the Congress leader of “not even addressing Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar properly”.

“Rahul Gandhi did not even care to prefix Basaheb’s name with doctor; and failed to pronounce his name correctly, thereby reflecting what kind of respect he has for the architect of the Indian constitution,” he said.

During his rally in Ambedkar Nagar, some 180 km from here, Gandhi accused Mayawati of neglecting the welfare of the poor she claimed to represent.

He said amid resounding applause: “I am here to raise the key issues that affect the masses who remain deprived and downtrodden, simply because their uplift does not figure in the list of priorities of those who are in power here.”

The Congress rally convened in Ambedkar Nagar to mark the birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar as well as 125 years of the party, drew a far bigger crowd as compared to the BSP rally held at a ground just a stone’s throw away.