Mayawati on Modi: 'Leader who talks about saving people only from Guj'

In a veiled reference to reports that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand, former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati on Sunday said the Bahujan Samaj Party condemns a political party whose leader seeks to become a prime ministerial candidate but talks about saving people only from his own state.

"We strongly condemn the political party, whose leader stakes claim for the post of the PM, but talks about saving people only from Gujarat," she said.

The BSP supremo said the personality of such a leader could be gauged from this incident.

"A person with such a narrow mentality cannot be the one to occupy the top post with honesty. You have to keep this in mind," Mayawati said while addressing the Brahmin Bhaichara Sammelan.

She said some political parties were indulging in "politics" over the calamity in Uttarakhand.

"The BSP requested the Centre and the state government to extend maximum possible assistance, but I am sad to say that even at this time of deep trouble, some political parties are indulging in politics," she alleged.

She said the BSP has appealed to its party workers to extend maximum help to the victims and has requested the Centre to declare it a national calamity.

"We are grieved with the massive loss of life and property due to incessant rain and landslide in Uttarakhand," she said.

Mayawati claimed that all the political parties had spread the canard that the BSP was a party of only Dalits and not that of the upper castes.

"That was totally misleading because the ideology and principles of BSP are not against any caste or religion. It wants to create an equitable system," she said.

The BSP supremo said people of all religions and castes should get an equal opportunity to progress, but the opposition parties indulged in such a canard to ensure that upper caste and minority communities stayed away from the BSP.

"We cannot come to the Centre without associating all the castes with us. My party has decided to associate upper caste and religious minorities along with Dalits and backward castes and we started from Uttar Pradesh," she said.

Mayawati said she herself took up the task and associated people of Sarv Samaj (all communities) between 2003 and 2007.

"We ran the government of sarvjan sukhay and sarvjan hitay (Happiness and well-being for everyone) honestly," she said.

Alleging that all the opposition parties had a tacit understanding in the last assembly elections, she said in a bid to succeed, they used certain tactics due to which a large number of people from backward castes, upper castes and minorities were mislead.