BSP chief Mayawati kept the political cauldron over expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh’s remarks simmering, claiming on Thursday that as far as the backward classes were concerned, she was a “goddess”.
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In New Delhi, BSP workers gathered in large numbers at Jantar Mantar and raised slogans denouncing the BJP.
Criticising BJP strongly for its now expelled leader’s remarks, Patnaik said, “The derogatory remarks against Mayawati shows BJP’s anti-Dalit stand”. She went whole hog against the errant BJP leader, such that she herself crossed all civil limits to hit back in the same coin.
Will this be the point when Mayawati consolidates the Dalit vote behind her?
“What Dayashankar has said about Mayawati, it should not have been said for any woman”, Bharti said outside Parliament.
“What crime has my daughter committed that BSP workers are abusing her.If the same words can hurt Mayawatiji, why will they not hurt us, particularly my daughter”, said Swati.
“What applies to my husband also applies to others”, she argued.
“May be because of that, Dayashanker Singh has berated her in obscene and obnoxious terms”.
BSP workers today held protests against Singh in Hazratganj, demanding his arrest. Apart from these, BJP president Amit Shah reached out to dalits during the Simhasth Kumbh in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, in May.
“The issue has ended; we have taken action against him (Dayashankar)”. Now that the party’s vice president in Uttar Pradesh has added insult to injury for the Dalit psyche, it would require extraordinary damage control by the top party leadership to even partially retrieve the situation. There was sufficient reason for them to question Mayawati’s “tit for tat” retort on the floor of the house.
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The police on late Wednesday night lodged an FIR against Daya Shankar Singh under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
