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Mayawati flays PM on Ayodhya

Bahujan Samaj Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati Saturday flayed Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for using Ayodhya as a political card to resusicate the dying Bharatiya Janata Party.

She also termed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Raj Nath Singh's ban on beauty pageants in the state as another reflection of the BJP "manuvaadi" mentality.

The BSP leader said, "Vajpayee's statement on the Ayodhya temple was well thought and clearly indicated the ruling party's intentions for an early election in Uttar Pradesh."

She felt the "BJP had deliberately revived the Babri Masjid issue to rebuild its badly eroded support base, but I am sure this will not work and people have seen through their game."

Mayawati said, "The BJP leadership had realised that the party had proved a total failure in governance, so the only option left before it was to extract mileage out of some political gimmick."

Referring to the prime minister's statement, she pointed out, "If Vajpayee claims that construction of the temple reflected the popular feelings of the people of this country, I would like to ask him if he felt the same about the demolition of the mosque as well."

She rebuffed the BJP line of drawing a comparison between the Ayodhya and Somnath temples, which were formally restored to Hindus shortly after Independence.

"The two are different cases and cannot be compared," she emphasised.

Describing Vajpayee's statement as "totally uncalled for", Mayawati felt, "it was also an obvious attempt to influence the judiciary."

She said, "The prime minister should have shunned from saying anything like that as the matter is pending before courts."

The former chief minister made it clear that her party would oppose any move intended to affect the judicial process . "Vajpayee was responsible for vitiating the atmosphere and inciting communal harmony by making such a statement that had sparked of communal clashes in many places in Uttar Pradesh," she added.

Mayawati held the Congress and Samajwadi Party responsible for the Ayodhya problem. "If the Congress had played mischief by manipulating the unlocking of gates of the Ayodhya shrine, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav 's provocative speeches were responsible for polarisation of Hindu votes in favour of the BJP," she pointed out.

While reiterating her charge that "Mulayam was having a tacit understanding with the BJP", she ruled out the question of any post-poll alliance with any party, including the BJP.

On why she refrained from voting on the Ayodhya debate in Parliament, the BSP leader clarified, "If the motion had been brought by an Independent, I would have voted against the government, but under the circumstances I would have only been helping the Congress and SP, who were simply playing political games to gain mileage out of the affair."

Referring to Raj Nath Singh's concerted moves to woo cross-sections of society through his 'panchayats', she said, "this chief minister was only making hollow promises and will therefore end up nowhere."

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