Nagpur: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief  Mayawati, Monday lashed out at sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat for his recent remark that Muslims were happy living in a ‘Hindu rashtra’.

The RSS should know that India is a secular country and for the majority of its people, the concept of a Hindu rashtra (nation) is unacceptable, Ms Mayawati asserted.

“Mr Bhagwat would also do better to read the Sacchar committee report which highlights the plight of minority communities,” the four-time chief minister of UP said and added, “Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar wrote the Constitution without keeping in mind any one religious faith. He wanted diversity and believers in different faiths to co-exist peacefully.”

Addressing an election meet at the Indora ground here, she sought votes for all 62 BSP candidates contesting the October 21 elections.

Regretting that the BSP had not won a single seat in Maharashtra, she appealed to party supporters to change the record and vote for a BSP win this time.

Painting the Congress and the BJP with the same brush, she said that both parties had never been interested in working for the weaker and downtrodden communities.

“Parties that do not respect the Constitution are in power today. They want to scrap reservation for the socially weaker classes. That is why they are going on a privatisation spree of even government services and sectors so as to circumvent the quota system enshrined in the Constitution,” she said.