A day after Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav called BSP chief Mayawati “bua”, she termed him a “Lalua (insulting reference for a naive kid)” who knows nothing about governance. Addressing a rally in SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s constituency Azamgarh, a Muslim stronghold, Mayawati reminded the community members about Muzaffarnagar riots, SP’s “role” in violence and urged Muslims not to divide their votes and go for BSP only.
“Mulayam considers the CM, his own son a Lalua and therefore asked him to learn the administration from the present Bihar CM. Hence, it would not be incorrect to term him as the Lalua chief minister of UP,” she said.
She sought to position herself as the biggest leader of the Muslim community in UP and stressed that “BSP has given 19 tickets to Muslims in this election”. Her rally, attended by 1.5 lakh people, was bigger than Mulayam’s recent rally in the constituency, according to policemen at the venue.
Calling both Mulayam and Narendra Modi communal, Mayawati urged Muslims to defeat both leaders. “BJP has appointed a person as its PM nominee who, as CM, brought his state to fire after the Godhra incident. If such person occupies the top post, the country can anytime fall to communal riots,” she said.
“I want to tell Muslims that they have a crucial responsibility this time. If you want to stop the BJP from coming to power at the Centre… then Muslims must not let their vote divide. They often divide their vote…. It directly benefits the BJP. BSP is receiving over 2.5 lakh votes of Dalits here. Upper castes are also voting for the BSP. If the vote of Muslim community is added to it, I tell you let alone winning the election, the BJP candidate will forfeit his deposit,” she said.
She claimed Modi’s nomination from Varanasi, a Hindu-dominated seat, and Mulayam’s from Azamgarh, a Muslim-dominated seat, is due to a tacit understanding between the BJP and SP: “Both are also contesting from other seats and even if they win here, they will vacate these seats and return to their native places.”
She said: “Mulayam is falsely claiming he is contesting from Azamgarh to prevent the Modi wave in Poorvanchal. If he really wanted that, he should have contested from neighbouring Varanasi against Modi.” Mayawati also said Mulayam was contesting from Azamgarh to “please his second wife” by paving the way for their son Prateek Yadav.
According to police, the woman executive was allegedly raped by 32-year-old Yadav on the night of December 5, 2014.