Replace UP Chief Minister or impose president's rule, demands Mayawati

Raising questions over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday demanded that either the state's chief minister be replaced or the president's rule imposed.

Referring to deaths of two women in Hathras and Balrampur regions of the state, she said the incidents are reminiscent of the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder in Delhi.

"In the wake of the law and order situation in the state and a flood of crimes against women, the Union government should replace Yogi Adityanath with some 'kaabil' (capable) person and if this is not possible, the president's rule should be imposed in the state," Mayawati said.

"I want to say to Yogi Adityanath that you are born from the womb of a woman. You should consider sisters and daughters of others as your own. If you are unable to protect them, you should resign, she asserted.

A 22-year-old Dalit woman had died in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur district on Tuesday after allegedly being raped by two men. She succumbing to her injuries on the day the Hathras woman died in a Delhi hospital, two weeks after she was allegedly gangraped.

Both were cremated on Wednesday.

Mayawati said the Yogi Adityanath government was not waking up despite continuous atrocities against women in the state.

"I want to tell the government that it would be better if Yogi Adityanath sits at his original place in Gorakhpur Math. If he does not like the Gorakhpur Math, he should be handed over the task of constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya," she said.

"In place of him (Adityanath), make a 'kaabil' (capable) man the chief minister who can give good law and order to people," she said.

"If the BJP high command cannot do this, then they should have a little mercy on the people of UP and improve the law and order situation by imposing the president's rule in the state," she added.

Reacting to the BSP leader's statement, state government spokesperson and Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, "Mayawati ji you become the leader of Scheduled Castes but you forgot that during your tenure a thousand Dalits were killed; and today you are giving us a lecture."

He said, "If you raise one finger at us, two will rise against you. This is your political journey. This is your approach and this is the principle."

When asked about Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi's plans to visit Hathras, he said, " Why are they not going to Rajasthan? Will Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not give answers on what is happening in Rajasthan," he said, adding that they wanted to play politics over the Hathras incident.