People confused over Maya’s stand on price rise issue

Is she in some dilemma or is it a strategy? BSP supremo and chief minister Mayawati’s flip-flop stand on price hike has left people confused.

On Monday, her government curbed with iron hand the Bharat Bandh called by the opposition parties against increase in petrol prices. But on Tuesday, on the same issue her party held statewide protest-cum-public meetings. This time, the state machinery went all out to make the ruling party’s agitation a success.

BSP leaders took a high moral ground justifying Monday’s canecharge on agitating BJP and SP workers saying that they were damaging public property, whereas BSP’s protest was peaceful and did not cause any public inconvenience.

But both BSP supporters and public at large are confused. The questions they asked were: Why BSP was opposing skyrocketing prices now when on the same issue it had bailed out the Congress-led UPA government in Lok Sabha 40 days back? When `Congress’s hath’ is not with `aam aadmi’ (common man) and its policies are anti-poor and anti-dalit, why BSP lent its `hath’ to save the Congress government?

On Tuesday, agitations were held all over the state but the main protest was organised in Lucknow. All roads leading to the Jyotiba Phule park in Chowk were bedecked with the BSP flags. Buntings and hoardings carrying photograph of “Nyay ki devi Behen Mayawati’ were put up at all the vantage points.

The men in khaki, on Monday, were seen charging at the members of the opposition parties with batons and water canons but on Tuesday they were posted at all crucial places along the route to help BSP workers reach the venue without any difficulty. Civic authorities too had made arrangements of drinking water and make-shift toilets for the protesters who were brought from all over the district in over 200 small and big vehicles hired by the BSP leaders for the occasion.

Urban development minister Nakul Dubey announced that a decisive battle between rich and poor has begun which will end with Behen Mayawati’s ascendant to Delhi throne after next Lok sabha elections in 2014. BSP general secretary Akhilesh Das praised Mayawati as enthusiastically as he used to praise Congress president Sonia Gandhi when he was in Congress. He claimed the Congress is spending Rs 500 crore on Rahul Gandhi’s image building and managing media to portray him as next the prime minister.

BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui claimed that Congress led-UPA government has increased prices of petrol, food products and all essential items to benefit the corporate world and described opposition’s Monday protest as a drama. “The incident exposed that SP and BJP are hand-in-glove. All the parties which supported Monday’s general strike either have been in power at the Centre or have supported the Central government at one point or another,” he claimed. BSP protest has always been peaceful whether the party is in power or not, he said.

However, this is not the first time that BSP has done a somersault leaving its supporters confused. It came to power with SP support in 1995. Mayawati thrice formed the government in UP with BJP support but later distanced herself from the saffron organisation. She aligned with the Left parties during 2008 trust vote but dumped them in April 2010 when they called for countrywide protest against spiralling prices.

The question is: Will BSP vote against the UPA government if a no confidence motion is brought by the opposition in the Lok Sabha on the issue of price hike?