Mayawati set to showcase strength at Kanshi event

After firing up dalit issues in the Rajya Sabha, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati is now preparing to show her strength in Uttar Pradesh on March 15, which is the birth anniversary of the late Kanshi Ram.

Ms Mayawati will kick off the BSP’s campaign for the Assembly elections, due in early 2017, with a massive rally in Lucknow on March 15.

The BSP feels that the debate in the Rajya Sabha over the Rohith Vemula suicide has brought dalit issues back on the centrestage of politics and the issue has the potential of giving a new lease of life to the BSP in Uttar Pradesh by putting the Modi government in the dock. While Ms Mayawati will make an attempt to wean back dalits from the BJP, she will also mount a scathing attack on the Akhilesh government with the deteriorating law and order situation as her main weapon.

The main points on the agenda of the rally will be the demand for a Bharat Ratna for Kanshi Ram, Union HRD minister Smriti Irani’s statements on the issue related to dalits and the growing atrocities on dalits in Uttar Pradesh.

According to a party source, “The party aims at bringing at least five lakh people to the rally which will be a befitting reply to those who have written off the party. We will show to the world that BSP continues to enjoy the support of dalits and other sections as well.” Ms Mayawati will be forcefully raising a demand for Bharat Ratna for the late Kanshi Ram in order to nullify the allegation made recently by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in which he had said that while Kanshi Ram had done a great deal for dalit empowerment, Ms Mayawati had destroyed his legacy.”

“We realise that this was a shrewd move by the Congress to create divisions in the dalit community but we will turn the tables on them in the rally,” said a senior party functionary.

The BSP president has already directed all divisional, zonal and district coordinators to mobilise dalits for the rally and each legislator has been given a specific target of the persons he is required to bring for the rally. Those who are aspiring for Vidhan Sabha tickets have also been given a similar target. BSP leaders are preparing list of atrocities on dalits in each district that have taken place in UP in the Akhilesh regime.

The list will be published in the form of booklet and will be distributed at the rally. Later, the booklet will also be updated and distributed in each Assembly constituency.