New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday slammed BSP chief Mayawati for giving a meek response over the public insult inflicted upon her party’s Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali by BJP lawmaker Ramesh Bidhuri. The incident created a political storm as Bidhuri faced widespread criticism for targeting Ali over his religion and calling him names. Rahul Gandhi later visited Ali after the BSP lawmaker broke down during a TV interview.
“Respected Mayawatiji just posted a five-line tweet over the insult of her party MP. In four lines she put out the views of the BJP and in just one line she showed the courage to register her objection. I salute her,” Congress Working Committee member Alka Lamba told ETV Bharat. “Hatred will lose and love will win,” she said.
Ex-UP Congress chief Brijlal Khabri, a former BSP leader, was more direct. “Mayawatiji silently supports the BJP. Therefore, she has not criticised Bidhuri or his party in strong terms. She lacks courage in targeting the BJP. If you surrender before another party, this is what happens,” Khabri told ETV Bharat.
The Congress leader slammed the remarks of BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who termed Rahul’s visit to Ali as a drama before the BSP MP joined the Congress. “Rahulji’s visit was based on humanitarian grounds and not political. But the members of the Muslim and Dalit communities are watching the politicians. They have realised that the regional parties are no longer their protector and will return to the grand old party,” said Khabri.
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The ex-Congress chief said that voters in UP would certainly take note of the episode and express themselves through the ballot. The views of the Congress leaders over the Danish Ali incident are closely linked to the grand old party’s plans to regain ground in politically crucial UP by winning over the BSP’s vote bank.
According to UP Congress leader Akhilesh Singh, “Mayawati is a spent force in the state and the Dalits are looking for an anchor.” However, he also noted that it may not be easy for the grand old party to make the Dalits shift towards it in one go and would require a more sustained plan to achieve that objective.
“Over the past years, the Congress did take in ex-BSP leaders like Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Nakul Dubey and has been working on the ground to cultivate the BSP’s supporters. But only time will tell,” said Khabri. At the national level, too, the Congress, which is steering the INDIA alliance, has made overtures to the BSP chief to join the opposition alliance but the former UP chief minister has been playing hardball.
For now, Mayawati has maintained that she is neither with INDIA nor NDA and would rather pursue her own path. There are also plans to field Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge from UP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in order to woo the Dalit voters. In the 2019 national polls, the SP and BSP contested together against the BJP. The BSP won 10 seats while the SP got 5. The Congress had just one seat. However, in the 2022 UP assembly polls, the BSP could win just one seat and the Congress two seats while the SP won 111 seats.
