 "BSP chief Mayawati waves at the crowd during a mega rally in Azamgarh on Sunday. PTI Photo")
BSP president Mayawati on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lucknow to attend Dussehra celebrations is "politically motivated" and the event should have been toned down taking into account the loss suffered by the families of soldiers killed in the deadly Uri terror attack.
"The pyre of jawans who lost their lives in the Uri attack has not yet died down, but the Prime Minister is coming to Lucknow to celebrate Dussehra for his political motives," Mayawati said at a rally here on the occasion of party founder Kanshi Ram's 10th death anniversary..
"It is likely that for the same purpose, he (Modi) might come to UP for Diwali as well. Taking the loss of the Uri martyrs' families into account, BJP should have celebrated Dussehra and Diwali with sobreity and simplicity," she said.
"The BJP has been forced to bring Modi to Lucknow to Dussehra mela so that he can put forth his views at a religious congregation...It has been forced to indulge in politics of religion," she said.
Mocking the saffron party, she said BJP might be forced to bring in film actors to garner crowds in future. Crowds alone do not translate into votes, she added.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Lucknow and attend Dussehra festivities at the historic Aishbagh Ramlila ground on October 11.
Apprehensive of possible efforts to "cash in" on cross-border terrorism in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Punjab, Mayawati said hysteria of war between India and Pakistan may be churned up to "divert attention from failures" of the central government.
On the Army's surgical strikes across the Line of Control
(LoC), she said that it was the right move, but one that came too late. "There is a feeling among people that this could have been delayed for taking political and electoral mileage."
Had the military action been carried out after the Pathankot attack in January, lives of 19 soldiers in Uri might have been saved, she said.
On the calls for making evidence of the strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) public, the BSP leader said the decision should rest with the Army alone.
She also hit out at the Centre for trying to gain "political mileage" by taking credit for the Army's operation
She equated the present "hype" with the mood in the US after its forces eliminated Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
Lashing out at the Prime Minister for "failing" to fulfil promises made during the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati said that all sections of society were today feeling "cheated".
"The politics being played in the garb of strikes has never be seen earlier," she said, adding that the speech delivered by PM Modi on August 15 indicated that anything can be done for gaining political mileage.
The BSP chief also alleged that central agencies like CBI are being "misused" by the ruling party of the day to "harass" political adversaries, as was done with her during the previous Congress government.
As Chief Minister, she said she took action even against her own ministers on corruption charges, unlike the present dispensation "which let Lalit Modi and Vijay Mallya flee" from the country.
