LUCKNOW: In a bid to widen her acceptability, chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati has tranformed herself from "Dalit Ki Beti" to "Sarvsamaj Ki Behan". While campaigning for Lok Sabha elections in the Muslim dominated Rohilkhand region, on Saturday, Mayawati aggressively wooed minorities by projecting herself a perfect candidate to lead the nation.In her speeches at public meetings in Sambhal and Amroha, Maya's main target was Congress. Presenting herself as an alternative of Congress and capable of stopping BJP's march to power at the centre, Maya brushed aside SP as a spent force and patted her own back for doing enough for Muslims in UP which Congress and governments of other parties could not do in their 55 year of rule. She tried to appease upper castes promising reservation benefit for economically weak among them, if voted to power at the centre, but her major emphasis was on luring Muslims.
"Just think...when British left India in 1947, proportion of Muslims in the government jobs was 33%, which has now come down to a miserable 1.5%. Your (Muslims) condition is bad -- economically, socially, educationally as well as politically. That's when you supported Congress all the way. With your votes Congress ruled the country for more than 50 years and UP for over 40 years. But your condition went down. Congress did not even implement Sachchar Committee report", said Mayawati, encouraged by a massive Muslim gathering in the election meetings.
"Congress's Yuvraj (Rahul Gandhi) promises to turn UP into number one state in the country with his youth energy. But I want to ask him why UP continues to be backward when it gave three Congress prime ministers from his family -- Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi? Because of UP's poor condition, people migrated to Delhi and Mumbai for jobs but what kind of treatment are they getting in these two Congress ruled state?," said Maya, who hopes to lead the Third Front after Lok Sabha elections to form a Non-Congress/Non-BJP government at the centre.
Projecting herself as future prime minister, Maya sought to arouse regional sentiments when she said, "If Congress can make Manmohan Singh, coming from Punjab, prime minister and BJP can project Lal Krishna Advani, belonging to Gujrat, for the post, then why can't a Dalit Ki Beti or Sarvasamaj Ki Behen or Rashtra Ki Beti, hailing from India's most populated state (UP) rise to this top slot?" But next moment she posed herself as a `national' leader. If voted to power, she added, entire country will be my constituency but UP will get special attention.
Accusing SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav of having secret pact with BJP, Maya said that SP has not fielded a candidate against BJP president Rajnath Singh and Mulayam has shaken hands with Babri Mosque demolition convict Kalyan Singh. Pointing towards her candidate from Sambhal, Maya said that Barq was founder member of SP but Mulayam denied him ticket in this elections. "A dejected Barq then came to me and I decided to field him from Sambhal. Now Muslims will have to take revenge by ensuring defeat to SP candidates in these elections," she said.
