Mayawati recalls 1995 guest house incident to condemn Samajwadi Party and Congress

Lucknow:

BSP leader Mayawati on Monday referred to the 1995 Lucknow “state guest house incident” to attack the Samajwadi Party for the “fatal attack” on her and the Congress for not coming to her aid despite being in power at the time.

This new salvo comes three days after the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader expressed her gratitude to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav for his stand on the “objectionable comments” made against her by a BJP MP during a televised debate.

“The SP carried out a fatal attack on me on June 2, 1995, after the BSP withdrew its support. Then why does the Congress never speak out on this? The Congress government at the Centre also failed to discharge its responsibilities on time during this period,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a post on X.

“Though Kanshi Ram Ji was in a serious condition and was hospitalised, the Home Minister had to be reprimanded and the opposition also laid siege to Parliament. Only then did the Congress government take action,” she said in Hindi.

“Because by this time, the intentions of the Congress government had also turned sour. After some incidents, it wanted to control its government from behind the scenes by imposing President's rule in Uttar Pradesh. However, this conspiracy was foiled by the BSP,” Mayawati further alleged.

On June 2, 1995, after she announced her decision to withdraw support from the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, SP leaders and workers went to the guest house where Mayawati had scheduled a meeting with her party leaders and allegedly attacked her.

She was rescued from the guest house by BJP leaders. Later, the Governor sacked Mulayam Singh Yadav official and invited Mayawati to form the government.

Mayawati said the entire opposition, including the BJP, had done its duty to protect them from criminal elements of the SP in the name of humanity. “So why does the Congress party keep having problems with this from time to time? People should be aware of this.” “Apart from that, the BSP has been putting full pressure for a caste census for years, first on the Congress party at the Centre and now on the BJP,” Mayawati said.

“But after the caste census, will the Congress be able to ensure the rightful rights of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs)? Those who are still silent on the issue of classification and upper class in SC/ST reservations should respond,” she added.

The 1995 incident had strained relations between the SP and the BSP for years before the two parties briefly formed an electoral alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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