Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has asked Dalits to embrace Buddhism if they can no longer endure exploitation under Hinduism. And she was willing to lead the way, she said at a massive rally on Monday.
The chief minister announced the registration of as many as 136 criminal cases against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in 40 UP districts. Among them were cases pertaining to the "fake" CDs against her, she said.
She had spent her life fighting manuvadi Hinduism, Mayawati said. Dalits had suffered trying to enter temples, but this would no longer be tolerated. If Hindu religious leaders did not mend their ways, she would lead her followers into the Buddhist fold to protect their social dignity.
Mayawati called upon her cadres to eschew rituals. She did not believe in superstitions and idol worship. There was nothing wrong, however, in erecting her own or her mentor Kanshi Ram’s statues all over Lucknow, she said.
The two CDs released by the SP were distorted. It wasn’t her (as she was heard doing in the first CD) who diverted money from lawmakers’ local area development funds, it was actually Mulayam.
The BSP raised money only through coupons, Mayawati said.
The FIR in the fake CDs case were filed at the Hazratganj police station by state BSP president K.K. Sachan.
Besides Mulayam, Leader of the Opposition Md Azam Khan and SP general secretaries Amar Singh and Shivpal Singh Yadav have been named in the FIR.
The other cases against Mulayam pertain to the time he was chief minister and allegedly misused the chief minister's discretionary fund.
Mayawati also said a probe had been ordered against AICC treasurer Motilal Vora for massive irregularities in the CM’s discretionary fund during president’s rule when Vora was governor.
The BJP reacted with embarrassment to Mayawati’s charges. Legislature party leader Lalji Tandon said he had no information on the decision to register FIRs against Mulayam. The chief minister has taken the decision at her level, he said.