Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is “a man who has all the potential to ignite communal disharmony across the sub-continent.”
The Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh attacked Modi at rally in Nashik on Thursday while campaigning for her party candidate Dinkar Patil. She blamed Modi for the 2002 Gujarat riots.
“The nation will become a seething communal cauldron if Modi gets elected to power at the Centre,” she said. She also targeted the Congress in her caustic speech. “The Congress and the BJP together are responsible for the ills plaguing the present day society... corruption is at peak and so is terrorism. Maoism is on rise because these parties have encouraged policies that are exploitative in nature,” she said.
“The common man of this country, has however, always been neglected,” said the BSP chief.
She accused the Congress and the BJP of promoting crony capitalism and anti-people policies.
“The Congress has been in power for nearly half a century and BJP also enjoyed power for six years at the centre. These parties have been framing policies for big business houses and industrialists as it is on their money that these parties have contested elections and enjoyed power.”
She said her party did not believe in preparing and distributing manifestos before an election.
“The BSP does not believes in manifestos because we believe in actual work and that is one of the key reason that we have never taken out any manifestos. During our rule in the UP, we ensured equal treatment to all.”
Mayawati referred to her term in government in UP, using it to compare the current state of affairs. “When we were in power in UP...there were no communal riots...simply because we ensured that those who prey on vulnerable classes were taken to task and booked with a proper legal follow-up action.”