Included himself in backward caste for political gains: Mayawati slams PM

Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was born into an upper caste but for 'political gains' he got the backward class tag for his entire caste during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

"In his election rallies, PM Modi has said that he is from the backward caste which is an attempt by him to polarise votes of backward class in his favour. But everybody knows his caste? After his government was formed in Gujarat PM Modi included his 'forward' caste into the backward community for political gain," said Mayawati.

"What have I said wrong when I say Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not backward by birth like Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son SP chief Akhilesh Yadav are. This is the fact, what wrong have I said ?" asked Mayawati.

"He said in Kannauj that he is considered 'neech'(downtrodden) by his opponents because he is from the backward caste. He also said that Akhilesh Yadav and I have referred to him as 'neech'. His allegations are nefarious and devoid of facts," said Mayawati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to the leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) not to drag his name into caste politics

"I had never spoken about my caste. Until the time Opposition leaders began hurling abuses on me, the country did not know about my caste. But I am thankful to 'Behenji' (Mayawati), Akhilesh, Congress and the ''Mahamilawati', for talking about my backwardness," Narendra Modi had said.

Meanwhile, Mayawati said, "The BJP and Narendra Modi still consider Dalit as 'neech'".

She also alleged that the BJP is attempting to give a communal colour to the elections. The party, she said has performed poorly in the three phases of Lok Sabha elections and will continue its poor performance for the next phases of polling.

"The BJP has completely failed in the front of 'gathbandhan'. They tried to give communal colour to the elections and their performance was very poor in the first three phases and are expected to continue it in rest of the phases," said Mayawati.

She alleged that BJP has used government agencies like ED, CBI and Income-Tax to target opponents at the time of elections.

"It never happened in the history of independent India that any government particularly at the time of elections have used CBI, ED and IT for targeting political opponents at the level the BJP does," she said.

Elections in Uttar Pradesh were held in three phases and will continue to be held on April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19 in the four remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Counting of votes will begin on May 23.