Situation in country worse than Emergency: Mayawati

Lucknow, Sep 18 (IANS) BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday said the situation in the country was "worse than Emergency" with central government agencies being "let loose" on opposition leaders.

Addressing her first public rally after she resigned as Rajya Sabha member in July, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said: "Various arms and agencies of the central government like Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax (IT) have been let loose on opposition leaders to intimidate them and muzzle their voice," she told a large gathering of supporters and party workers in Saharanpur.

She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of not being serious about the welfare of the Dalits and the weaker classes of society and cited how she was not allowed by the treasury benches in the Rajya Sabha to speak on the caste conflict in Saharanpur.

"When I was not being allowed to raise the issues regarding my people, I decided to resign," Mayawati said, justifying her resignation from the Upper House of the Parliament. She also said the BJP was using government agencies to safeguard its own interests and to protect its own leaders.

She also raked up the issue of "faulty and tampered" EVMs, which she said dented the BSP and worked in favour of the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections earlier this year. The Dalit leader slammed the Yogi Adityanath government in the state and said it was hoodwinking the farmers of the state on its poll promise of a loan waiver.

"The fraud they are doing on the hapless farmers is being exposed now as at many places farmers have got loan waiver cheques of Rs 1 and Rs 10," she said.

Mayawati assured her supporters that desertions by senior leaders and "conspiracies" by opponents will not be a deterrent for her in fighting for their cause.

Enthusiastic BSP worker danced to drum beats, with their bodies painted in party's blue colour, and raised pro Mayawati slogans as she spoke. The four-time Chief Minister is trying hard to revive her party's lost ground.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, her party drew a blank and in the 2017 state assembly polls, the party got only 19 of the 403 seats, coming a poor third to the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP). In 2012 when ousted from power by the SP, it had got 80 seats.