Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati celebrated her 56th birthday here on Sunday sans any pomp and show, expensive gifts or any kind of razzmatazz. She took the opportunity to flay the Election Commission for its “high-handed” treatment of the BSP.
Though the BSP’s state office here was decorated with colourful lights and flowers, the spirit of festivity and celebration was missing. The Dalit icon’s birthday - normally a huge celebration every year - was limited to a simple, low-key affair.
Dressed in a loud pink salwar-kurta and wearing a glittering diamond necklace, Mayawati was all smiles as she made her grand entry into the hall packed with journalists at the state BSP HQ. Her cabinet colleagues and other party leaders greeted her with bouquets and fell to her feet to get their leader’s blessings. But, Mayawati got down to business, declaring her party candidates’ list and releasing the seventh volume of her biography ‘A travelogue of my struggle-ridden life and BSP movement’.
“The EC is trying to pressurise me and has sent me a letter in threatening language,” she said referring to the EC’s letter sent late on Saturday night to party general secretary SC Misra. The EC has stated that it could revisit its October 2011 decision on freezing the BSP’s election symbol (elephant). The EC’s said order had come in response to a reference made to it by the Supreme Court in a writ petition praying for freezing its election symbol and withdrawing BSP’s recognition as a national party.
“This is a result of the EC’s anti-Dalit and casteist mentality. The EC is also functioning under the pressure of the Centre,” Mayawati alleged.
Mayawati added that honouring the concept of equality, the party has issued tickets to 88 SC candidates, 113 OBC, 85 religious minorities, especially Muslims, 117 upper caste, of which 74 are Brahmins and 33 Kshatriyas.
She also alleged that the EC in a “one-sided” order had directed covering of all her statues and those of her party symbol, the elephant, throughout UP on complaints from opposition parties without giving the BSP any opportunity to present its view on the matter. “In Chandigarh, a 45 feet high hand symbol has been installed in a park at government expense. But the EC has turned a blind eye to that. The hand symbol in the statues of all Hindu deities and gods also do not influence the voters according to the EC. Same is the case with the hand pump (symbol of the Rashtriya Lok Dal) which has been installed in thousands at government expense,” she said.
Mayawati said the EC’s order had, in fact, helped her party gain publicity during elections.
“I am thankful to the EC and opposition leaders for this order as it has resulted in huge publicity to the BSP and its elephant symbol. We would have had to spend crores of rupees to get so much publicity in newspapers and TV channels,” she remarked.
The Dalit leader asked the EC to reconsider its order on draping her statues and those of elephants. She also advised the election body to conduct free and fair elections without giving in to pressure from the Centre or the Congress.
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