Politics
UP Minority Outreach? Mayawati Attacks Modi More Than UP CM Akhilesh Yadav
Mayawati addressing a rally (SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP/Getty Images)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is on a minority appeasement overdrive in Uttar Pradesh, targeting mainly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and even sparing, to some extent, the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP).
Breathing down the Bharatiya Janata Party’s neck in the poll-bound state, her choice of location for rallies are clearly an attempt at denting the BJP’s poll plans and wooing the Dalits and the Muslims.
Mayawati hardly questioned the political dispensation under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who has failed to stem caste-driven violence in the state. Playing the minority card effectively, she focused on attacking just the BJP.
She chose to hold her last meeting at Saharanpur, where Modi held a rally to mark two years in power.
Her second rally was held in Azamgarh, which is SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s parliamentary constituency.
Mayawati, who is eyeing big wins in the state, will hope to build political capital over minority insecurities, especially in places like Saharanpur, which suffered the impact of the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013.
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