Raebareli: Posters seek apology from Rahul Gandhi after remarks on Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party supporters put up posters in Raebareli protesting against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's statement on BSP Chief Mayawati.

The posters accused Rahul Gandhi of "Double standards" and portraying himself as a benefactor of Dalits.

"Rahul Gandhi ji, enough of your double standards. On one hand, you are misleading the entire society by portraying yourself as a benefactor of Dalits, visiting the memorials of Mool Bharatiya Veer Pasi ji to gain the votes of Scheduled Caste people. On the other hand, you are allowing your party leaders to announce the political strangulation of Mayawati, who has served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh four times and is regarded as a messiah of Dalits," the poster in Raebareli read.

"This is an insult to the entire Dalit community of the country. Apologize for this, or else the entire Dalit society will surely teach you a lesson," it added.

This comes after Rahul Gandhi on Thursday indicated that if Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had fought the recent parliamentary elections with the Congress, they would have won.

Addressing students at the Mool Bharti hostel in his constituency of Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi asked, "Why doesn't Mayawati fight elections properly?"

In a conversation with students, one of them spoke about issues regarding the hostel when Rahul Gandhi intervened and asked, "What do you think about Kanshiram Ji?"

After the student gave his response and also mentioned Mayawati, Rahul Gandhi asked, "Why doesn't Mayawati fight elections properly?".

"We wanted Behenji to fight elections along with us against the BJP," Rahul Gandhi said, referring to the BSP supremo.

In response to Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati accused Congress followers in Congress-ruled states of exhibiting 'animosity' and a 'casteist' attitude towards the BSP.

In a series of posts on X in Hindi, Mayawati raised questions on the 'double standards' of Congress, saying, "In the states where Congress is strong or where it has governments, there is animosity and casteist attitude towards BSP and its followers, but in a state like UP where Congress is weak, there is deceptive talk of alliance with BSP; if this is not the double standard of that party, then what is it?"

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister further said that the BSP has always had to face losses when it contested elections in alliance with 'casteist' parties like Congress.

"However, whenever BSP has contested elections in UP and other states in alliance with casteist parties like Congress, our base vote has been transferred to them but those parties have not been able to transfer their base vote to BSP. In such a situation, BSP has always had to face losses," she stated.