Mayawati takes dig at Amit Shah over campaigning jibe; asserts 'won't copy other parties'

Days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah mocked Mayawati for not commencing her campaign for the Uttar Pradesh polls, the BSP supremo took a veiled dig at him. A

ddressing a huge rally in Moradabad on December 30, Shah quipped, "Behenji hasn't shaken off the cold yet. She is afraid. Behenji, the elections are here. Step out a little now. Don't say later on that I didn't campaign".

In response, Mayawati explained to the media on January 1 that BSP will stick to its unique style of campaigning instead of apeing other parties. 

BSP president Mayawati said, "When BJP and Congress come to power at the Centre and in states, these parties start doing big announcements, laying the foundation stone of projects and inaugurating projects two- two and a half months ahead of polls. They also organise huge election rallies using public money. In such programmes, half the crowd comprises government employees and ticket aspirants which we are witnessing in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab." 

"Our party doesn't believe in copying the tactics of other parties. It takes into consideration the financial condition of the party. Because I am conscious of the fact that if I conduct huge rallies every day copying the tactics of other parties, my party workers will not be able to bear the financial burden of organising rallies during election time. Because our party is the party of the poor and the weak . We are not a party of moneybags and industrialists like other parties. Our party is also a movement. If we copy others, the party can face a big loss in elections owing to the paucity of funds," the former UP CM added.

BSP's UP election campaign

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. The Mayawati-led party is eyeing a comeback in the state in the upcoming Assembly election after being out of power for 9 years now. After a spate of defections and expulsions, BSP has merely 5 MLAs in the Assembly.

While the ex-UP CM is yet to commence full-fledged campaigning, BSP started its outreach to the Brahmin community which constitutes approximately 10% of UP's population by organizing Prabuddha Varg Sammelans in July 2021.

This was perceived as a bid to emulate its social engineering formula, which led to the victory of the Mayawati-led party in 2007. BSP General Secretary SC Mishra had played a key role in bringing Brahmins close to the party as he held a series of rallies projecting BSP's poll symbol 'elephant' as Lord Ganesh.