Several BSP workers took to streets and protested against the Dayashankar Singh's remarks.
A day after a second rung UP BJP leader used abusive words against Dalit icon Mayawati, the BSP leadership was seen desperately latching on to the simmering controversy in an obvious attempt to make the most of it in view of the upcoming state assembly election.
Mayawati herself used the opportunity to label herself as a "devi" (goddess) while one of her party leaders heightened the political melodrama by offering a reward of Rs 50 lakh to anyone who severed the tongue of the errant BJP leader Daya Shankar Singh.
Since Thursday morning, there were massive protests throughout the state in which angry party workers burnt effigies of the BJP. Singh has been absconding since Wednesday evening after the police registered an FIR against him at Lucknow.
Ironically, while the BSP was protesting a slur against its top leader, the party itself crossed all limits of decency in abusing the BJP leader and his family. The party's banners demanding that the BJP leader be hanged described him as a dog and also used abuses to describe his women family members. That was not all. Even senior BSP leaders addressing the crowds openly used the most obnoxious abuses for Singh, his wife, mother and daughter.
In Delhi, Mayawati parried questions on this count but described herself as a goddess. "The people of weaker and deprived sections, whichever party they may be in, look up to me not only as 'Behn ji' (sister) but they respect me as a 'devi' (goddess)," she told reporters. The Dalit icon is obviously out to paint the incident as one of Dalits' dignity and honour, and capitalize on it to the fullest in view of the 2017 UP election.
In Lucknow, BSP leaders worked throughout the night to put up a big show of strength in the state capital. Agitating party cadres virtually brought the city to a standstill as over a lakh BSP workers marched on the city's streets waving the party's blue pennants and banners.
Jannat Jahaan, the Chandigarh unit chief of the BSP, made things even more dramatic by offering a cash reward of Rs50 lakh to the person who cuts off the indiscreet UP BJP leader's tongue.
Top BSP leaders led by national general secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui sat on a dharna at the feet of the Dr Ambedkar statue in Hazratganj, the centre of Lucknow, along with thousands of party workers.
"We will not move from here until that dog Daya Shankar Singh is arrested," he shouted into the microphone as the milling BSP workers applauded fiercely. However, the sit-in was later lifted after top officials convinced the BSP leaders that the accused BJP leader would be arrested at the earliest.
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