Dalit MPs Of "Casteist Parties" Won't Do Anything For Community: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Thursday said that Dalits who become MPs and MLAs through "casteist parties" like the BJP and the Congress will only serve their interests rather than those of the community.

If these leaders try to do something for their community, they are removed from the party and the government, Mayawati said at a programme at the party office here on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

Born in Maharashtra in a Dalit family in 1891, BR Ambedkar was a key architect of India's Constitution. He was a jurist and an economist who played an important role in India's freedom movement.

BR Ambedkar championed the cause of the Dalit community which faced deep-rooted discrimination. He was also India's first law minister.

"It has always been clear in the country's politics that even if casteist parties, especially the Congress and the BJP, make a Dalit MP, MLA, minister, deputy chief minister or even the president, that Dalit person can only ensure his progress and that of his family but cannot do anything for the progress of the neglected community," a BSP statement quoted Mayawati as saying.

If these people make efforts to do something for the Dalit community, then they are thrown out of the party and the government, she said.

In such a situation, these Dalit leaders have to remain a slave to these parties, she added.

Taking a dig at the various programmes organised by different political parties to pay tributes to Ambedkar, Mayawati said these parties, who have always neglected the ideals and struggles of Ambedkar, are competing to pay tributes to him out of "pure political selfishness".

This is nothing but "deceit" because these are the people who keep working on policies to ensure that Ambedkar's followers remain "helpless and slaves", she said.

"After the Congress, the BJP can be seen at the forefront in this direction," she added.

Mayawati further alleged, "Under the governments of both these parties, neither the exploitation nor atrocities on the people of backward classes have stopped. Their political, social and economic condition has also not improved." Ambedkar made many provisions in the Constitution to ensure an economic and political environment in the country that would reduce disparity. But these provisions are not being implemented, she claimed.

"This shows the flawed intentions of these political parties," she said, adding that this is the reason why Ambedkar's mission has remained unfulfilled.

To fulfil BR Ambedkar's dreams, the BSP leader called on people to join her party's movement by keeping aside their personal interests and differences.

"Else, the rival parties will use every means, including money, and stop this movement. Though the rival parties are not together, they become one against our movement," she said.

Mayawati also highlighted the developmental work carried out by the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh from 2007-12. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)