Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday said her party will take "concrete steps" to make western Uttar Pradesh a separate state if voted to power at the Centre.
Launching her party's poll campaign in western Uttar Pradesh, the BSP chief also asked the Muslim community not to split their votes. "If the Muslim community splits its votes, and votes for the Congress, then the BJP will get the benefit," she said at a rally in Saharanpur.
Addressing another rally in Muzaffarnagar, where she campaigned for party candidate Dara Singh Prajapati, she referred to the long-standing demand for statehood for western Uttar Pradesh.
"There has been a long-standing demand for statehood by the people of western Uttar Pradesh. For this, concrete steps will be taken if our government comes to power at the Centre," Mayawati told the gathering. The BSP is fighting this Lok Sabha election alone and is not part of the opposition INDIA bloc.
Twenty-five years ago, Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh as a separate state.
The BSP chief also claimed that if free and fair elections are held and voting machines are not tampered with, the BJP will not return to power this time.
"Most of the BJP's time was spent on making wealthy businessmen wealthier and protecting them... The BJP and other parties run their organisations and contest elections with the support of these businesses. Electoral bond data revealed this," she added.
At the Saharanpur rally earlier in the day, Mayawati asked Muslims not to split their votes. "To the Muslims, I would like to say that you should not allow your votes to be split. If you want to defeat the BJP candidate, I would ask the Muslim community not to allow your votes to get split," she said.
Sharpening her attack on the Congress, the BSP chief said, "Whenever the BSP has fielded a Muslim candidate, the Congress and other parties have also given tickets to Muslim candidates." "The Congress knows that its candidate will not win the polls. The BSP has a huge chunk of Dalit votes along with Muslims. From the Kairana Lok Sabha seat, we have given the ticket to a 'Kshatriya'. Our candidate will get the 'Kshatriya' votes in Saharanpur as well," she added.
She further claimed that it would not be easy for the BJP to return to power because of the difference in its words and actions.
"The BJP and its allies have been in power at the Centre and in most states. Owing to their casteist, capitalist, narrow and vindictive policies and style of working, and due to the significant difference in their words and actions, it now seems that it would not be easy for them to return to power at the Centre," the BSP chief said.
People are not going to fall for the "rhetoric" served by the political parties ahead of the polls anymore, she said and accused the BJP of "politicising" probe agencies.
She said her party is contesting the Lok Sabha election on its own instead of forging an alliance with any party and has given "appropriate share to all sections of society" in ticket distribution.
Mayawati also hit out at rival political parties, saying their wrong policies have adversely impacted the economy. Apart from this, the country's borders are not completely safe, she claimed.
Asking the voters to remain alert, Mayawati said other political parties use the media, opinion polls and surveys to create a favourable atmosphere.
"The BSP does not release its manifesto. Our party believes in speaking less and working more. Our government in Uttar Pradesh did historic work which is now being copied by governments of most parties," she said.
Hitting out at the free ration scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Mayawati said, "Food materials given to extremely poor families is not going to benefit them. This problem can be addressed by giving them work and our party will pay attention to this." Earlier in the day, Mayawati accused other mainstream parties of giving an "ostensible" respect to Dr BR Ambedkar and ignoring his followers.
"For narrow electoral interests, the ostensible respect given to Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, and ignoring his followers, exemplifies the proverb 'mooh mein ram, bagal mein chhuri',” she said in a statement.
In a post in Hindi on X, Mayawati paid tributes to Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and called him "a messiah of millions of poor, exploited, deprived and neglected people in the country".
Eight parliamentary constituencies of Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur, and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19.
The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
