Mayawati's event was held at the famous Kothi Meena Bazar ground in Agra.
The battle for Uttar Pradesh's Dalit votes escalated on Wednesday with BSP Chief Mayawati finally making an appearance and launching her election campaign in Western UP with a public meeting in Agra. She made her first election campaign event speech just eight days before the seven-phased polls start.
As per the Election Commission's new guidelines up to 1,000 people are allowed in public meetings. Mayawati's event was held at the famous Kothi Meena Bazar ground in Agra, a place that usually sees a sea of public members when political bigwigs address the voters. However, due to the poll body's restrictions, only BSP party workers were allowed on the main ground - they were given passes before the event.
Locals had to view the events from beyond the boundary barricades.
The four-time Chief Minister made sharp attacks against the BJP, saying, "BJP's work is based on casteist divisions and narrow political agendas which is why there has been no proper development. People were exploited. Tension was created in the name of communalism. Crimes have increased... especially against Dalits and women."
She also answered all the questions that had been doing the rounds so far about her absence in the campaign.
"All those in the media who asked "Where is Behenji? She is not being seen anywhere." Let me tell you Behenji is right here and has been carrying out poll preparations," she said.
Agra with its population of over 7.5 lakh Dalits is known as the Dalit capital of UP and most of these are from the Jatav community which is BSP's core vote bank.
For BSP, it is now a fight to regain its stronghold seat Agra has nine assembly seats, two of which are reserved for Scheduled Castes (Agra rural and Agra Cantt).
Until 2017, Agra was a BSP bastion with the party winning most of the nine seats. BSP won six out of the nine seats in 2007 and in 2012.In 2017, BJP won all 9 seats of Agra mainly due to votes from non-Jatav Dalits like Valmikis, Pasis and Katiks.
Across the state, Dalits comprise 21 per cent of the population and Jatavs form over 50 per cent of this Dalit electorate, making it the dominant sub-caste
Many say that Dalits have been betrayed by the government and there are echoes of Hathras which is only 50 km away where a 19-year-old Dalit girl died after being gang-raped and her body was cremated overnight in September last year.
Mahesh Jatav, a local resident who came to view Mayawati's event said, "Mayawati ensured welfare of each section of society whether it was a lower-middle-class person or big traders. The current government has done nothing. Dalits are exploited in this government. A Dalit's daughter was raped and the administration cremated her."
Another resident Ramesh Kumar said, "There was law and order during Behenji's government. If a poor man wanted to lodge a complaint he could do that. But today nobody pays heed to him. No complaints are registered."
BJP in its efforts to reach out to the Dalit voters has fielded Baby Rani Maurya who hails from the Jatav community and resigned as governor of Uttarakhand to contest these elections. She was the Mayor of Agra in 1995.
Ms Maurya who is contesting from the Agra rural seat has been campaigning extensively around villages.
On Wednesday, she first attended a public viewing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Aatmanirbhar Arthvyavastha' event, and then interacted with voters in more than four villages.
When NDTV met Baby Rani Maurya at Akola village in Agra she hit back at the allegations made against BJP and said, "BJP never does politics based on caste and communalism. BJP's agenda is 'Sabka Sath and Sabka Vikas'. BJP always works for development. Modi ji works for farmers, women, provided easier access to gas cylinders for women. BJP ensured public toilets for women so that they can access basic facilities with dignity."
Ruchira Chaturvedi, a local resident of Akola, told NDTV, "Earlier women feared stepping out of their houses. If a woman needed to go out at 2 am she would be scared of the Goonda Raj. But now there is proper law and order and we can go out fearlessly." Another resident Suraj Vyas said, "Because of the BJP government people have started getting better electricity and water supply. Even at the national level, great things have been done. Article 370 was removed in Kashmir and great road connectivity has been developed."
On the other hand, BJP's top leadership continued to campaign across West UP with Amit Shah in Aligarh where he targetted previous regimes saying, "Goons used to harass the people of Uttar Pradesh under Behenji's and Akhileshji's government. In UP, the police were afraid of the mafia. Under Yogi Adityanath ji's government, the mafias have migrated from Uttar Pradesh."