Modi giving casteist, communal tinge to campaign, says Mayawati

BJP, and especially PM Modi, are 'frustrated' and have stooped to 'petty' politics, Mayawati said

After dubbing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "Mr Negative Dalit Man", Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati on Tuesday charged him and Bharatiya Janata Party with trying to give "casteist and communal tinge" to the poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

"In the past couple of days, BJP and its top leaders, including the PM, have been issuing wrong statements after assessing that the party has fared badly in the first three phases of polling," she said in a statement.

Referring to Modi's "graveyard-cremation ground" and "Diwali-Eid" comments, Mayawati said such a view is aimed at giving casteist and communal colour to polls.

At a Fatehpur rally on Sunday, the PM has said each village needs to have a graveyard and a cremation ground and the people should get power on Diwali as well as Eid without discrimination.

"He (Modi) seems to be giving polls casteist and communal hue...Before saying this, he should see whether every village in BJP-ruled states like Haryana and MP have the same facility," Mayawati said.

She said the Prime Minister should get cremation ground in each village in BJP-ruled states first and then talk about it in Uttar Pradesh.

"Such kind of wrong statements prove that they have stooped to politics of lies," she said, adding BJP has lowered the level of politics which is not good for democracy.

"PM says BJP does not indulge in caste and communal politics, but this is wrong," Mayawati said, also citing the Rohith Vemula case.

Rohith Vemula was a research scholar at University of Hyderabad who had committed suicide in 2016 alleging discrimination on the basis of caste.

She said BJP has not given ticket to even a single Muslim candidate in UP which has some 18 to 20 per cent population of the community.

The BSP on the other hand has given representation to all castes and religions in ticket allocation without discrimination, unlike BJP and Modi, she claimed.

BJP, and especially PM Modi, are "frustrated" and have stooped to "petty" politics, she said, adding this indicates they are far from coming to power.

Stressing that her party is poised for a full majority in the elections, she said BJP and SP-Congress alliance are fighting for 2nd and 3rd spots.