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Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Thursday hit back strongly at Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah for calling opposition parties ‘KASAB’.
Describing the BJP chief as a ‘terrorist’, she said there ‘cannot be a bigger Kasab’ than him.
Shah in a rally on Wednesday had used the acronym for the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.
The BJP chief had said the name of the 26/11 terrorist, when deconstructed, meant Congress, Samajwadi Party and Mayawati’s BSP.
"Until Uttar Pradesh gets rid of KA-SA-B, there will be no development in the state. ‘Ka’ (in Hindi) is for the Congress, ‘Sa’ for the Samajwadi Party and ‘Ba’ for the BSP," Shah had said in Chauri Chaura, a historic town in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing an election meeting at Ambedkarnagar, Mayawati said such talks reflected bad mindset of the BJP leader.
"Aaj apney desh mein Amit Shah se bada yehan koi aur bhi Kasab nahin ho sakta hai, arthaat aatanki nahi ho sakta hai (There cannot be a bigger Kasab, meaning a terrorist, than Amit Shah in our country now)," she said.
Kasab, the only terrorist caught after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by Pakistani attackers, was hanged in 2012.
"Until Kasab is laid to rest, development and prosperity will continue to elude UP," Shah had said.
Mayawati earlier took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he used another acronym to describe the three parties. ‘SCAM is Samajwadi, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati,’ he had said at his first rally in Uttar Pradesh.
This week, Modi had described the BSP as ‘Behenji Sampatti (property) Party’.
In her riposte, Mayawati called the BJP ‘Bharatiya Jumla (rhetoric) Party’ and used PM Modi’s initials to call him ‘Mr Negative Dalit Man’.
Mayawati appealed to voters to observe fast on the polling day and break the fast only after exercising their franchise.
"Once the BSP forms the government, it will generate employment and streamline the recruitment process," she said.
She said the current quality of mid-day meal served in primary schools is quite bad and would be replaced with more nutritious items such as milk, biscuits, cakes and fruits.
Besides, rule of law would be established, she said.
Addressing another election rally in Bahraich, the BSP supremo claimed that her election rally was much larger than that of PM Modi and exuded confidence that the BSP is going to form the next government in the state.
"Because of wrong policies of the BJP (at the Centre) and the Samajwadi Party (at state level), there is resentment among the people of the state," she said.
She alleged that the SP changed the names of the schemes started by the BSP government.
The BSP chief also took a dig at SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying he ‘seems to have been affected by ‘putra-moh’ (blind love for son), and has even insulted brother Shivpal’.
Mayawati urged the Muslim voters to vote for the party, saying her party has given tickets to 99 candidates from the community.
"The RSS and the BJP want to end the reservation system in the country. If the BJP forms the government in the state, it would either end the quota system or make it ineffective," the BSP chief said.
She also alleged that the BJP did not do anything when it was in power, and now it is indulging in politics of cremation ground and graveyard.
Meanwhile in Amethi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi accused the PM of resorting to politics of hatred in face of SP-Congress combine challenges to the BJP.
"Modi ji pehle khush the, magar gathbandhan ke bad unka chehra utar gaya hai aur ab we nafrat failane ki rajniti karne lage hain. (Prime Minister Modi was happy and confident earlier, but following the Congress-SP alliance, he has begun playing politics of hatred)," said Rahul.
"The smile is missing from Modiji's face and he going about with a long face...his mood has changed...now he is back to his old ways of dividing people," said Rahul in a series of election campaign rallies at his home turf here in Amethi, Gauriganj, Munshiganj and Jagdishpur.
"Modiji is trying to spread hate and anger among people. He goes to Bihar and spreads hatred there and does the same here in UP," Rahul said.
"I want to tell Modiji...na Hindu banega na Musalman banega, insaan ki aulad hai insaan banega (a child here will become neither a Hindu, nor Muslim; the child of a human will grow to be only a human being),” said Rahul.
He added he thinks Modi had nothing to tell the country as the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have not given the country either Mahatma Gandhi or Sardar Patel or Bhagat Singh.
Reiterating that no amount of personal attacks by the BJP would deter him, he said stalling the development projects initiated by the previous United Progressive Alliance government has pained him.
Rahul promised once his party returns to power at the Centre, all the scrapped projects would be back.
"Food park... national paper mill... all will be brought back which will develop this area and give employment here," said Rahul.
Spelling out the vision of development for the state, he stressed that the local industry and farm sector will be developed in a big way with help of bank loans and it will ameliorate the problems of the youth of the state.