After Mamata, Mayawati says no to today’s Opposition meet over CAA

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Updated: Jan 13, 2020 10:20 IST

The Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday made it clear she will not attend the opposition parties’ meeting called by the Congress, dealing a blow to attempts to showcase a united front against the BJP on the citizenship act.

Mayawati is angry with the Congress after all six MLAs of her party in Rajasthan joined the ruling Congress. And on Monday, she cited it as her reason for not attending the opposition meeting.

“In such a situation, the BSP attending the meeting called by the opposition today under the leadership of the Congress will be demoralising to the party’s workers in Rajasthan. That’s why the BSP will not attend this meeting,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi in the morning.

“The BSP is away against CAA/NRC etc. We again appeal to the central government to withdraw this divisive and unconstitutional law. At the same time, the politicisation of students in JNU and other educational institutions is very unfortunate,” she added.

West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has already announced she will not be a part of the meeting, called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Leader of the Left parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), among others, will hold talks in the afternoon to plan out strategies to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on two key issues — the economy and the debate over citizenship.

The Samajwadi Party is also expected to attend the meeting.

Protests have erupted across the country over CAA, which fast-tracks Indian citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, as critics have called the act divisive and against the Constitution.