Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday slammed both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress at the first joint rally with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal in Deoband, leas than a week before voting in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.
"BJP will lose this election because of policies inspired by hatred.. especially their chowkidar campaign... no matter how much the chhote, bade chowkidars try, the BJP will not win," she said.
Addressing the rally in the presence of SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Ajit Singh, she said, "The Congress has failed despite ruling for so many years."
The BSP chief said, "Our government, instead of giving minimum income support, will give employment to poor people. Indira Gandhi too made a 20-point programme to remove poverty, but was it effective?"
She said, "We are silent workers, unlike other parties. Our party performs without making noise, we are silent workers. The Congress too has been making tall claims, haven't they been given enough chances for decades?
"They were wiped out from several states. The Nyay scheme is not a stable solution for removing poverty."
At the same time, she said the BJP government has been misusing probe agencies.
"Even the people from backward communities are suffering... The divisive thought process of these parties are hurting these communities... At the Centre, or state level... reservation issue for these communities was ignored.
"These communities are not benefiting from the reservation. They are being exploited. Minorities are also suffering."
Mayawati said corruption has increased at every level.
"The Congress was tainted by bofors. BJP government is tainted by Rafale... The BJP government has been misusing probe agencies -- CBI, ED - against its rivals.
"You don't need to give another chance to them. The parties that have already been given enough chances In the election season, political parties use opinion polls to misguide voters. Do not get swayed," she appealed to the voters.
She assured the electorate that if voted to power, farmers will no longer be in debt.
"Sugarcane farmers are suffering in UP... their grievances are being ignored amid empty announcements. When our party was in power, we made sure dues of sugarcane farmers were paid," the former chief minister said.
Mayawati said the BJP's poll promises have still not been fulfilled.
"The ground realities can't be ignored. BJP will keep endorsing its hawa-hawai (lofty) schemes till the poll results are announced. Thousands of crores have been wasted... That's taxpayers money... could be used for the poor...
"If PM was serious about welfare of poor, they would not have been inaugurating schemes after poll dates were announced... they would have performed in five years of tenure.
"In the last budget... whatever announcements were made by centre are nothing but empty poll promises," she said.
"Now that BJP is panicking, you should know BJP on its way out... and grand alliance will arrive. After Independence, for a long time Congress and BJP were in power... even in the Congress-ruled states, wrongful practices came to notice... so they eventually lost voter base..."
Lok Sabha elections this time will bring mahaparivartan: Akhilesh
Accusing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government of creating more rifts in the society than the British during colonial rule, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said this time, the Lok Sabha elections are to bring a 'mahaparivartan (mega change)'.
Referring to the 2014 parliamentary election, the SP chief said, "He (Modi) came as a chaiwala (tea-seller) and we all believed (him) for the sake of 'achche din' and crores of jobs. But now, when elections have come again they say they are chowkidar (watchman)."
"This time, we all will together snatch the 'chowki' (seat) of every single chowkidar," he said.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi coining an acronym 'SARAB' (alcohol) from the initial letters of the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party tie-up, Yadav said, "Our alliance is being termed 'milawat (adulterated) alliance', but those who talk about SARAB are intoxicated by power."
He accused the BJP of having forgotten its promises and asserted that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance aims to give the country a new government and a new prime minister.
The SP chief stressed that the dreams of socialist thinkers Ram Manohar Lohia and Kanshi Ram will be fulfilled by the alliance.
"The coming election is for 'mahaparivartan' (grand change)... this is the alliance of giving a new government and a new PM," he told the gathering.
On the prime minister washing the feet of sanitation workers at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, the SP president said, "Everyone saw on TV when feet were being washed, but at the same time, jobs of the minorities and others were washed off."
The promise of 'achche din' (good days) has turned out to be 'burey din' (bad days). They (BJP)... brought goods and services tax, which benefitted big businessmen but the small ones remained harassed, he alleged.
Taking a dig at the prime minister for making claims of all-round success, Yadav said, "The prime minister is making claims, but statistics prove the country is going backwards in all areas...
"They created walls within society, when what was required was that progress be made with the help of schemes."
He asked the BJP leaders to resolve never to tell lies, and said, "I have taken the same resolve this 'Navaratri'."
"They created more rifts in society than the British," Yadav said, and alleged that the BJP wanted to create rift within the society and end the legacy of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Lamenting that the country's boundaries were "still not safe" and jawans were being killed, the SP chief held the BJP responsible for these.
"The coming elections are for bringing change, establishing brotherhood, pulling down the wall of hatred," he said.
Asserting that the ruling BJP was afraid of the alliance, Yadav said not a single vote should go in waste and also attacked the Congress for fielding candidates against the alliance.
"The policies of the Congress and the BJP are same... The Congress does not want to bring change but rather want to strengthen itself in Uttar Pradesh," he alleged.
Lauding the works done by the SP and BSP governments in the state in the areas of road, power, laptop distribution, pension, Yadav said, "Those making tall claims on the power sector must know that the BSP and SP governments had done more work compared to the five years of BJP at the Centre and two years in Uttar Pradesh. Not a single megawatt power has been generated by the BJP."
The 'achche din' Modi talked about was his own: RLD chief
Meanwhile, RLD chief Ajit Singh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him what he has done in the five years he has been in power.
At the joint rally, he said, "What has Prime Minister Modi done in five years? He wasn't talking about your 'achche din', but his own 'achche din'."
The BJP came to power in 2014 because of riots as they had no presence in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, Singh claimed.
This was the first joint election meeting of the 'mahagathbandhan' in western Uttar Pradesh, parts of which go to polls in the first phase on April 11.
