india

Updated: Jan 15, 2020 10:05 IST

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday said that her party is a disciplined party and does not believe in violent protest. Her remarks comes days after the BSP skipped an Opposition meeting to take on government on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“BSP does not believe in organising violent protest. It’s a disciplined party and follows democratic process to oppose anti-people policies of government,” Mayawati said while addressing a press conference on her 64th birthday in Lucknow.

The Congress had convened a meeting of the Opposition parties on Monday to discuss contentious issues, particularly the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and and the economic slowdown. The Bahujan Samaj Party boycotted the meeting, claiming the Congress was poaching its legislators in Rajasthan.

Mayawati had said that if her party joins the meeting called by the Congress, it will hurt the morale of the party supporters in Rajasthan.

At the press conference on Wednesday, she again took on Congress. “The statement by Congress that other Opposition parties are not opposing CAA and NRC is a lie. I had opposed CAA on the floor of Parliament. Earlier BSP had opposed demonetisation and GST. BSP had filed petition against EVM in Supreme Court. The Congress was initially silent on the issue,” Mayawati said.

Reiterating that her party is against the CAA, Mayawati said, “The CAA is divisive, unconstitutional, there is fear among a community. The central government should roll back CAA. BSP will continue to oppose the bill.”

She attacked the BJP-led central government also. “Today due to wrong policies of central government Congress had managed to be in limelight. BSP considers BJP and Congress as two sides of the same coin. It is maintaing equal distance from both the parties.”

Accusing the BJP of not listening to people of the country, Mayawati warned that its fortunes will be worse that Congress. “Today the people are facing several challenges. The economic slowdown has made their life miserable. It’s due to wrong policies of the NDA government,” said Mayawati.

“People brought BJP to power but BJP government is moving on path of Congress. If BJP continues to follow the same policy, its condition will become worse than Congress,” she added.