New Delhi, Feb 18 (IANS): Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday slammed Congress, saying the party can never be true and trustworthy to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar's thinking and policies.
Mayawati's remarks came after Congress leader and former MP Udit Raj made some controversial comments and alleged death threats against her.
In a post on X, she said Congress never respected Ambedkar, and no matter how many programmes the party claims to run in his honour, they are meaningless since these are only for political gains.
She wrote in Hindi on X (loosely translated as): "The Congress party, especially, which has disdained at every level the humanitarian struggle of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar for self-respect and self-esteem of millions of exploited and oppressed Dalits/ Bahujans, even during his lifetime and after his death, can never be true and trustworthy to his thinking and policies. Therefore, no matter how many programmes the Congress organizes in the name of 'Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Mandal, Jai Samvidhan' etc. for purely political and electoral gains, the followers of Baba Saheb are not going to be misled by them. They are aware and alert and are struggling to stand on their own feet.
The BSP chief also cautioned the Dalits against those within the community who misuse the cause for personal benefits. She said, "Along with this, the Bahujan Samaj needs to be cautious of some party-changing opportunists and selfish Dalits who keep making baseless statements etc. to please their masters and should not take them seriously because they are ignorant and unfamiliar with the 'social change and economic liberation' movement'.
Udit Raj, during an event in Lucknow, has allegedly said that Mayawati has "strangled the social movement and it was time to strangle her".
The controversial statement has instigated a row and concerns have been raised about the security of the BSP chief.
Mayawati's nephew and BSP leader Akash Anand in a post on X on Monday demanded legal action against Udit Raj. "I want to clearly tell @uppolice that these criminals should be arrested within 24 hours and strict action should be taken under the law, otherwise the Bahujan youth of the country is not going to sit quiet, I know very well how to teach them a lesson."
He wrote in Hindi that some old associates of Kanshiram Saheb, and sometimes BJP and sometimes Congress sycophant, Udit Raj spoke on Saheb's mission in Lucknow on Monday
"Whereas Udit Raj is notorious for looking for opportunities in other parties for his selfish interests. He is concerned about the Bahujan Movement only so that he can become an MP or MLA from some party. This has nothing to do with the upliftment of the Bahujan society."
He said that the language used was unacceptable. "I am a young soldier of the Bahujan Mission, but I understand the mission of Baba Saheb and Manyavar Saheb more than him. The kind of threat that is in his language today is absolutely unacceptable to us, to crores of soldiers of the Bahujan Mission...Forgetting the mission of Saheb in his selfishness, this sycophant is today threatening to 'strangle' our Mayawati, who has given social and economic freedom to millions of Dalits, exploited, deprived poor of the country with political power," Anand said.