Intensifying her attack on the Congress, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday charged the party with exploiting the Dalits and said her government was capable of changing its "mindset".
Criticising the Congress for Thursday's incident in which party MLA Pankaj Malik allegedly thrashed a district development officer belonging to Scheduled Caste in Muzaffarnagar, Mayawati said the MLA's attitude reflected the Congress' anti-Dalit "mindset".
She said the BSP would highlight the issue and book the MLA under SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act.
"Instead of protecting the Dalits, the Congress has been exploiting them for the last 60 years," she said.
"I will change their (Congress party) mindset in Uttar Pradesh. I will not tolerate such behaviour and teach them a lesson if voted to power in other states," she said.
Mayawati said the Congress had lost its ground in Uttar Pradesh due to such incidents and would meet a similar fate in other parts of the country in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
"If a Congress MLA can beat up an officer, his behaviour can be understood," she said.
Mayawati said after assuming power in the state, her government had issued three government orders to ensure that SC/ST Act was not misused.
She also accused opposition parties of spreading propaganda against her party.
Citing an incident of 1998, Mayawati claimed following a directive of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, an FIR under SC/ST Act was registered against a Muslim by a person from backward community in an attempt to destroy Dalit-Muslim unity.
