‘Modi not fit to be PM’ Mayawati Attacks Again

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati launched a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, calling him “totally unfit” for the country’s top job and stressing that he should not get another term in office.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Mayawati compared her rule in Uttar Pradesh with that of Modi in Gujarat, and added that his tenure as chief minister of the western state was a “blot” on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the country.

“I have been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for four terms. My government worked for the people’s welfare and development. The people still remember the good works of my government,” Mayawati said.

Mayawati also underlined that Uttar Pradesh was free of riots and disorder when the BSP ruled the state. “Modi’s tenure, not only as Gujarat chief minister but also as the country’s Prime Minister, has been chaotic, violent, and tense and filled with hatred,” she alleged, appearing to allude to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Her comment came four days before the seventh and the last phase of the national polls on Sunday.

The BSP is contesting the elections in alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP swept the national polls in 2014 and won 71 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The BSP could not win any seats in 2014. It hopes to regain its importance in national politics by winning a substantial number of seats this time in Uttar Pradesh, which is crucial to the BJP’s hopes of retaining power at the Centre.

Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Navin Srivastava slammed Mayawati for her comments. “The attack on the BJP is a mere ploy to prepare excuses for a certain defeat that the [BSP-SP] alliance is heading for… across the state.”

Mayawati and Modi have been exchanging barbs since last week. She has called Modi a “fake OBC [other backward class]” and added that people use abusive language against him because he deserves it.

At his rallies, Modi has time and again challenged opposition parties who call him “corrupt”, reiterating the NDA government at the Centre had been a clean one. In the controversy over remarks by opponents on his caste, Modi has said poverty is his only caste, apparently referring to his humble background as a chaiwaala (tea-seller).

On Sunday, Mayawati and Modi targeted each other over the gang rape of a Dalit woman in Rajasthan. Modi said Mayawati was “shedding crocodile tears” and asked why she did not withdraw support to the Congress government in the state over the incident. Mayawati hit back, citing incidents of Dalit atrocities.