BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said his party had taken offence with the BSP ridiculing Hindu gods
A poster of BSP supremo Mayawati depicting her as Goddess Kali slaying Union Minister Smriti Irani with Prime Minister Narendra Modi shown in a miniature form has surfaced here, triggering a blame game between political rivals in Uttar Pradesh. While BSP denied that it has any association with the controversial poster, BJP leaders lodged a complaint seeking action against those responsible.
The poster, which also carries the names of those who have issued it, was part of the tableau being taken out in Sadabad town evening during Ambedkar Shobha Yatra to mark his 125th birth anniversary.
The district administration, which took notice of the poster, got them removed from the shobha yatra promptly. District unit president of BSP Dinesh Deshmukh, when contacted, said that as soon as it was brought to his notice he got it removed. Meanwhile, BJP leaders of the district took offence to the poster and led by their district president Ramvir Singh met SP Ajaypal Sharma and submitted a memorandum demanding lodging of a case against those putting up the poster as well as the convenor of the shobha yatra.
The SP said that the matter was being probed. Two people, whose names are mentioned in the poster, are said to be block level leaders of BSP. Recently, a poster depicting UP BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya as Krishna and opposition leaders as Kauravas, had appeared in Varanasi.
BJP state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said his party had taken offence and told IANS: ““The BSP in the past has ridiculed Hindu gods and deities so it is not very surprising. But what is very worrying is the fact that through such inflammatory acts, the BSP is trying to trigger casteist clashes.”
Mayawati v/s Smriti Irani in parliament
Mayawati and Smriti had clashed in parliament during the JNU row. Asserting that she was not 'satisfied' with Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani's answers on Rohith Vemula's suicide, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday asked if the former would chop her head off and place it on her feet as promised earlier if her reply would be unsatisfactory.
"I request you Mayawati ji, I am ready to give a reply. I have been listening to your demands since the morning. And if you are unsatisfied with my reply then I will cut my head and put it on your feet," Irani had said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Mayawati reminded Irani on Friday that her response to her questions had been most unsatisfactory so if she would stick to her earlier assertion. "She told me that if I am not satisfied by her response then she will chop her head off and place it on my feet. I am not satisfied with her response, so she should give me her head but I am sure that she will not do such a thing," Mayawati said.
Slamming Irani for her 'Mahishasur' comment, she added that the HRD Minister had insulted the Adivasi and the Dalit community with her statement and accused the writers of Indian mythology to having portrayed both the communities in a negative light.
"Her comment on Mahishasur has insulted the Dalit and the Adivasis of the nation. It was shameful and she put forth a distorted version of the truth and our party condemns it. Those who wrote the Indian mythology have pinned Mahishasur's faults on the Dalits and the Adivasis and they have been portrayed as people who never respected women, whereas they were those who protected Sita," Mayawati said.
She added that Irani should have stuck to the topic of discussion which was Rohith Vemula and accused her of purposely veering off point in an attempt to shift the focus.
"If the government does not want to do anything for these two communities, then at least they should stop insulting them. They should start by sacking VK Singh who called them animals," she said.
Mayawati said that the HRD Minister owed an apology to the nation for trying to mislead them by giving out the wrong facts in the matter of Rohith Vemula. She also alleged that the Gazette formed by the Centre over the probe in the matter was 'illegal' as it was formed without taking consent in both Houses.
"On February 2nd, the government formed an illegal gazette as both the Houses were not notified about it first. We even present of copy of the document in the Parliament today," Mayawati said.
Earlier on Friday, Mayawati and Irani were seen at loggerheads again over the issue of the late Phd scholar from Hyderabad University. Under fire over the Dalit scholar's suicide, Irani said in the Rajya Sabha, "It is incorrect that there is no member of SC community in the inquiry committee. Rohith Vemula's mother asked for a judicial inquiry into child's death. I assured her justice will be done."
Responding to the HRD Minister's claims, BSP supremo Mayawati said that she was not satisfied with Irani's answers and accused her of indulging in drama to cover up the entire episode.
"It is incorrect that there is no member of SC community in the inquiry committee. The probe commission has not kept any Dalit member. There is no intention of giving justice to Rohith Vemula," Mayawati said.
Mayawati had earlier accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of suppressing the voice of Dalits with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Government at the Centre.
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