Mayawati pledges support to GST but attacks government on intolerance

New Delhi: BSP chief Mayawati on Monday announced support to the GST bill even as she attacked the government over alleged "intolerance, communalism and anarchy" in the country and demanded action against Minister V K Singh for his remarks on the killing of Dalit children in Haryana.

Participating in the debate on 'Commitment to the Constitution' in Rajya Sabha, she expressed concern over the condition of Scheduled Castes, OBCs and minorities particularly Muslims.

Taking strong objection to Singh's 'dog' remarks after killing to two Dalit children in Haryana, Mayawati said the Minister should be dropped from the Council of Ministers and "sent to jail as such people deserve to be in jail and not in Parliament".

Spewing fire on the government on various incidents including Dadri killing, she repeatdly raised questions over the government's commitment to the Constitution, debunking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply statement on it in the Lok Sabha.

The BSP chief dared Modi to take action against his own ministerial and party colleagues, who she alleged are making "provocative" remarks.

At the same time, she significantly chose the occasion to announce her unequivocal support to the GST bill, which is stuck in Rajya Sabha. "If your government is fully confident that bringing the GST Bill is in the interest of the nation, it will bring a change in the economy and give a boost to it, the BSP will definitely back it. Our party supports the Bill in Parliament," she said.

In an apparent dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inviting Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over tea to discuss the GST issue, the BSP chief said, "you will not need to offer even a cup of tea or a glass of water (to me) for this", evoking laughter in the House.

She said her party will back the government on measures it takes for the development of the nation and the welfare of all sections. Mayawati alleged that an atmosphere of "intolerance, anarchy and extremism" is growing but the government is not giving attention.

"People from BJP and affiliated Hindu organizations keep on making controversial indignified remarks. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the head of the government keeps silent," she said.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also brought Congress under the ambit of her attack questioning all previous governments on their commitment to the welfare of the Dalits and rejected the pro-Ambedkar assertions of both BJP and Congress.

Without naming Aamir Khan whose remarks on intolerance have led to a controversy, the BSP chief said she holds the government more responsible for the row than the actor. She advised Aamir Khan not to think of leaving the country but to counter such things by a strategy akin to what Ambedkar used to employ. The BSP chief pushed for reservation for Dalits and tribals in promotions in the government and the private sector and favoured quota for economically-backward sections.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a lot in his concluding remarks during the debate on Constitution (in Lok Sabha) on Friday. It would have been better if he had announced some decision to amend the Constitution for reservation to the weaker sections of the society in private sector and reservation for ST/SCs in promotion," she said.

Mayawati said people from SCs/STs and OBCs, who have converted due to various reasons, should also get the benefits of reservations. Besides the Constitution should be amended to provide reservation also to the financially backward sections, she said.

Referring to the statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat about a "review" of the reservation, she threatened to take to streets. She dismissed pro-reservation statements of the BJP as an afterthought in the wake of debacle in Bihar assembly polls.

"I am warning if there is any such attempt from the government, I will take to streets against it and hold a massive agitation against it. I will not allow any such attempt to succeed," Mayawati said, alleging a "conspiracy" behind such remarks.

She said the Dalit quota in government jobs is not being implemented properly and accused Congress of "rendering ineffective" the move to provide quota in promotion by not deploying adequate legal resource to take up the matter in the Supreme Court. Targeting Modi, Mayawati said when the Prime Minister goes abroad to Buddhist countries he praises teachings of Lord Buddha but when he comes to India, his party (and) people work totally opposite. "They don't work in line with teaching of Buddha," she said.

"Modi, in his speech in Lok Sabha on November 27, gave many suggestions about celebrating 125th birth anniversary of Ambedkar but a real tribute to him would have been an announcement of reservation inprivate sector as well as a bill guaranting reservation in promotions," she said.

She also demanded inclusion of reservation in the 9^th Schedule of the Constitution as also amending Constitution to give reservation to weaker sections of the upper castes. Mayawati also told the NDA government that the followers of Ambedkar will not come to it by only erecting memorials.

She claimed that when she headed a BSP-BJP coalition government in Uttar Pradesh over a decade ago, BJP put pressure on her to pursue Hindutva agenda. She said she rather chose to resign and run the government on principle enshrined in Constitution.

But soon after, CBI was "misused to harass me" in the Taj Corridor case, she claimed, adding "I was falsely implicated." Congress which came in to power in 2004, too kept the issue hanging and it was Supreme Court which gave justice, she said. 

She also accused the Centre of "miusing" CBI to "implicate" her in NRHM scam as Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are nearing.