Mayawati resigns as Rajya Sabha MP in protest over Dalit atrocities
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Jul 20, 2017
Mayawati, a shrewd politician has been quick to realise that a Rajya Sabha seat may serve very little goal, and made it's flawless use in announcing her re-arrival in politics.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati is set to launch nationwide agitation to fight BJP at the ground level on issues of atrocities against Dalits, nearly four months after her party suffered a poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh, BSP insiders have said. In the last session of the Parliament, we heard Sharad Yadav say that Parliament was the probably the only place, where he had the right to freely express his views, but his voice never reached the masses. But why should I stay here when I am not being allowed to speak here?
Through her much-publicised resignation, the BSP chief hopes to create the moral ground for the launch of a campaign to mobilise her vote-bank, which is being increasingly wooed by the BJP. Amidst the ruckus, Mayawati threatened to resign from the House if she was not allowed to speak on Dalit issues. If she follows through with the resignation procedures (for starters, she'll have to file another motive for resignation and sign a proforma), she could be scoring a heavy political point. This is because of the sudden resignation of the BSP supremo Mayawati from her Rajya Sabha seat.
He said that BSP leaders were not allowed to meet the affected families.
She did raise the Dalit issue before storming out of the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Mayawati had quite a few supporters in Sharad Yadav and Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav, who requested the Deputy Speaker to let her continue but to no avail.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi too nodded in affirmative as Kurien looked towards the treasury benches.
He said the Dalit leader was given twice the allotted time to raise her issue in the House and it was "unfortunate" that she did not give due respect to the Chair.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad took objection to Naqvi's remarks, saying the BJP had got a mandate to protect the poor, farmers, minorities and Dalits.
The political observers are dubbing her move as an attempt to rally core Dalit support base behind her and re-establish herself as the sole leader of the community after a debilitating defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections earlier this year.
