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Deoria (Eastern UP): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s inaugural election rally from her home State on Sunday saw a huge turnout. The meeting, held in the eastern town of Deoria, showcased her as Prime Minister-in-waiting. It also elicited a promise from her that in the event she formed a Government at the Centre, she would offer job reservation to the poor among the forward castes.
Ms. Mayawati ascended the stage to ear-splitting shouts of “U.P. hui hamari hai, ab dilli ki baari hai (we have taken Uttar Pradesh, we will take Delhi next). The crowd, estimated by the police at a lakh and a half, a record for Deoria, kept up a continuous chant of slogans revolving around the theme of her “impending” Prime Ministership.
“Bharat ki majboori hai; Behen Mayawati zaroori hai” (India needs Mayawati), the audience sang, even as the U.P. Chief Minister spoke of going beyond the State to set up a government in Delhi. Ms. Mayawati said any government she formed at the Centre would be based on the principle that all communities are equal. She came to power in U.P. on the promise of “sarvajan hitaya” (welfare of all communities) and she would follow the same policy in Delhi, the Chief Minister said.
Ms. Mayawati stressed that her concern was more about poverty than caste. She said the poor suffered uniformly, whether they belonged to the backward or forward castes. She said she had addressed many letters to the Centre seeking reservation for the poor among the forward castes but had got no response. “I want to tell you that the day we form a government at the Centre we will give reservation to the upper caste poor.” She added that she wanted to give Schedule Caste status to many of the smaller castes currently included in the Other Backward Classes list.
The Chief Minister said the Bahujan Samaj Party had not entered into electoral alliances with other parties, preferring instead to fight on its own strength. However, in doing so, the party had ensured that every community got its due share in ticket allotment. She asked the audience not to waste their votes on mainstream parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party but to put their entire weight behind the BSP and elect a maximum of its candidates so as to help the party form a government at the Centre.
Ms. Mayawati said the BSP was unique in many ways. Where other parties drew their financial strength from corporate power and big business interests, the BSP’s funds were built from the “sweat and labour” of its cadre. “In the entire country, we are the only party that does not depend on corporate interests. Our financiers are our workers. This is the reason we are not under pressure from the big business houses,” she said.