Alwar gang-rape case: Mayawati said PM Modi is trying to play dirty politics over it.
Accused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "shedding crocodile tears" over the Alwar gang-rape, Mayawati today let loose a vitriolic attack on the PM, accusing him of "dramebaazi (playacting) with his love for Dalits" and also taunting him on his wife.
"Yesterday PM Modi, in his election rallies here, did dramebaazi of his love for Dalits to draw Dalits but he will gain nothing from this...He was silent on the oppression of Dalits. He is trying to play dirty politics over it," the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said today.
"How can he respect others' sisters and wives when he has left his own wife for political gains? It is my special appeal to women of this country not to vote a person like this. PM Modi, in this election, kept changing his caste according to the situation."
Mayawati's comments invited a strong reaction from Union Minister Arun Jaitley who tweeted: "Behan Mayawati - She is firm on becoming a Prime Minister. Her governance, ethics and discourse stoops to an all-time low. Her personal attack today on the Prime Minister exposes her as unfit for public life."
But the BSP chief doubled down on her attack on the PM, saying "one is abused only when he does something worth being abused".
"Prime Minister Modi is using his caste and poor economic background to lure voters. In his rallies, he is also telling the public that opposition is hurling new abuses on him every day. However, it is obvious that one is abused only when he does something worth being abused," she said at a rally in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur.
The political row involves the gang-rape on April 26 of a Dalit woman by six men who allegedly also beat up her husband in Alwar. The attackers filmed the act and allegedly posted the clip online. The woman's family has alleged that the police delayed filing a case because of the national election in Rajasthan, where the Congress took power in December after the BJP's defeat.
Alwar gang-rape case: Five people have been arrested in connection with the crime.
Mayawati had criticised the Congress, saying the party had suppressed the incident till the end of elections to avoid any backlash.
PM Modi, while criticising the Congress government, also lashed out at Mayawati for continuing her support to the government."Today the daughters of Uttar Pradesh are asking Behen-ji (Mayawati) that the government in Rajasthan is running with your support and there, a girl from Scheduled Castes got raped. So Behen-ji, why have you not withdrawn your support?" PM Modi said in a Hindi post on Twitter.
The Prime Minister had, in another recent attack, commented that the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were using Mayawati and playing a "big game" against her. Mayawati had responded by putting out a strong message of unity and asserting that the Congress would get every gathbandhan vote in Amethi and Raebareli, the seats of the Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress was left out of the Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati gathbandhan or alliance and has contested along in many seats in Uttar Pradesh, raising the possibility of anti-BJP votes being split.
The PM has often raised the spectre of a weak and divided opposition in his campaign.