BJP showing fake love for Dalits, says BSP chief

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Tuesday accused the BJP of showing "fake love" for the Dalits. The BJP hit back, saying the former chief minister was rattled by its growing popularity among the weaker sections.

The "Bharatiya Janata Party and company" were indulging in falsehood to project themselves as the champions of Dalits, Mayawati said in a statement here.

Criticising the state BJP's now-expelled women wing leader Madhu Mishra for her alleged casteist remarks, Mayawati said if the BJP was so serious about the honour of the Dalits, it should act against union minister Gen V.K. Singh who allegedly likened a Dalit's death in Haryana to that of a dog.

The former chief minister said the BJP always spoke in two voices, adding that there were many instances like the Hyderabad University research scholar Rohit Vemula's case wherein it was established "beyond doubt that the BJP was grossly anti-Dalit and anti-backwards".

In response, BJP Uttar Pradesh unit spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said Mayawati was "rattled by the growing acceptance of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by the Dalits."

"She is heading a party fighting for its very existence as a national party after the Election Commission's notice in this regard. Mayawati is now trying to hold on to her fast-eroding Dalit vote bank, as seen in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where the BSP drew a blank," the BJP leader said.