Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati launched a sharp attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) while praising the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh (UP) government at a high-profile rally in Lucknow Thursday.
Marking the death anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, she accused the SP of changing the name of Kasganj district, which her government had earlier named after “manyawar (respected)” Kanshi Ram. Throughout her address, she continued to target the 2012–2017 Akhilesh Yadav-led UP government.
At the Thursday rally, BSP chief Mayawati also branded the SP as “two-faced”, accusing it of exploiting Dalit icons only for political gain. She also said that the SP forgets Dalits while in power but invokes them once out of office.
“When in government, it neither remembers PDA (pichhda, Dalit, alpsankhyak) nor saints, gurus, and great personalities linked to the movement. But the moment the party loses power, it suddenly recalls our icons. People must be wary of such two-facedness,” she said.
Mayawati alleged that SP-led governments never spent much on upkeep of Dalit memorials and even pocketed ticket revenue collected from visitors.
“Now, when out of power, it makes headlines, talking of holding seminars in Kanshi Ram ji’s honour,” she added.
Targeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati said that if he truly respected BSP founder Kanshi Ram, he would not have renamed Kanshiram Nagar district to Kasganj.
“We named universities and institutions after Kanshi Ram ji and other leaders, and launched several welfare schemes, but the SP government shut them down. If this is not double standards, what is?” she asked.
At the same time, she thanked UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government for ensuring the maintenance of parks and memorials built under her tenure.
“I had written to the Chief Minister, requesting that the ticket revenue collected from visitors be used solely for maintenance. The BJP government assured us that the funds would not be diverted elsewhere but spent only on upkeep. And it fulfilled this promise. For this, our party is grateful,” Mayawati said.
After her address, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who calls Mayawati ‘bua ji (aunt)’, took a swipe at her on X, commenting, “Unki andhuri saathgath hai jaari, isliye zulm karne waalon ke abhaari (Their secret alliance continues, which is why they remain grateful to the oppressors).”
The remark by Akhilesh Yadav, whom the Bharatiya Janata Party often refers to as ‘bhatija (nephew)’, alleged an internal understanding between the BJP and the BSP.
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BSP to go solo in 2027—Mayawati
BSP chief Mayawati Thursday declared that her party will contest the next Uttar Pradesh assembly elections independently, ruling out any possibility of alliances.
Speaking at a rally in Lucknow, she said that past tie-ups had only benefitted partner parties, but the BSP’s core voters did not get adequate support in return.
“From our experience, I want to state clearly that whenever we have fought assembly elections in alliance, especially in Uttar Pradesh, it has not brought us any real gains,” Mayawati said.
“After the BSP formed a majority government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, the way our government worked for the welfare and happiness of the people…increased our influence across the country. Seeing this, all casteist, narrow-minded and capitalist parties secretly joined hands to ensure that our party never returned to power in the state,” Mayawati said.
These parties, she alleged, got so scared after her victory that they ensured that the BSP could neither return to power in UP nor expand across the country.
“In every election, be it assembly or Lok Sabha, the Congress, BJP, SP, and other rival parties have secretly united and used various tactics to stop the BSP. Wherever the BSP was winning, they transferred their votes to defeat us,” she said.
Standalone posters of Akash Anand
The BSP rally in Lucknow saw a massive turnout of party workers, with standalone posters of Mayawati’s nephew and BSP national coordinator Akash Anand drawing significant attention—a clear indication of his emergence as the party’s No. 2 leader.
During her address, BSP chief Mayawati praised her nephew for rejoining the movement.
“Akash Anand has once again returned to this movement. It is a positive sign. He will work under my guidance. Just as Kanshi Ram promoted me, I have decided to promote Akash in the same way. I am confident, and I appeal to you to support him in every situation,” Mayawati said.
In his speech, Akash Anand vowed to replicate the BSP’s 2007 performance.
“We will fight the 2027 elections the way we contested in 2007, when the BSP formed the government on its own,” he asserted.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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