Maya terms EC order to drape statues ‘anti-Dalit’

Lucknow, Jan., 16 : In an apparent bid to portray herself as a victim in the eyes of her core vote bank of Dalits and gain their sympathy in the forthcoming Assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday slammed the Election Commission (EC) for ordering the draping of her statues during the polls.

She termed the poll panel ‘anti-dalit’ and ‘casteist’ even as she maintained, rather sarcastically, that the order would benefit her party as it had brought her huge publicity free of cost.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of her 56th birthday on Sunday, a visibly upset Mayawati also accused the EC of succumbing to the pressure of the Congress led UPA government, which was also ‘anti-dalit’, and taking a ‘one sided decision’.

She urged the poll panel not to succumb to the pressure of the congress and ensure free and fair polls.

“Unless the EC also orders the covering of the Congress’ poll symbol – hand and the RLD's poll symbol – hand pump, our party will take the EC decision as the one reflective of its anti-dalit mindset,” she said as she specifically mentioned a 45 feet high statue of a ‘hand’ at a park in Chandigarh in this regard.

Mayawati criticised shifting of State Police Chief Brijlal and Home Principal Secretary Fateh Bahadur, both dalits, by the EC and said their transfer smacked of ‘casteist mindset’.

The BSP supremo said that her birthday celebrations were low key this time, owing to the model code of conduct and told her party workers that an absolute majority for her party in the polls would be the ‘most valuable birthday gift for her’.

Unlike previous occasions, Mayawati was not flanked by bureaucrats nor was there any grand celebration or decoration in the city. The BSP supremo, however, released a book of her memoirs on the occasion.

Mayawati released list of BSP candidates for all the 403 assembly seats in the state and claimed that the nominees of her party had, to a great extent, a clean image.

“Many tainted elements had managed to secure BSP tickets last time by keeping our innocent party men in the dark,” she said.

She said that the ‘wrong elements’ had also ‘corrupted’ her own party workers and leader for which she had to expel many old cadres also.

“This time, we have denied nominations to many ministers and sitting legislators who did not have a clean image,” she said apparently referring to the sacking of a large number of ministers and expulsion of a number of legislators.

The BSP supremo said that she had given tickets to the members of all the communities in accordance with their contribution to the ‘BSP mission.’

The list contains 88 candidates from the Scheduled Castes, 113 from Other Backward Classes, 85 from minorities (including Muslims) and 117 from upper castes including 74 Brahmins.

There are also 34 ‘thakur’ nominees among the upper caste candidates.