‘BJP picking devious issues to divert attention’

BSP chief’s comments on population seen as renewed outreach to Muslims

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday targeted the ruling BJP for “confusing” people on the issue of population control and ignoring “real priorities’’ such as rising unemployment and poverty.

The four-time former Uttar Pradesh CM’s comments in a tweet came two days after present incumbent Yogi Adityanath, in an oblique reference to Muslims, said while speaking on World Population Day that “population imbalance in the country can lead to anarchy”.

“At a time when the people are limiting their needs and have been forced to lead a stressful life singed by extreme poverty and rising unemployment, is it wise of BJP to confuse people with long-term issues like population control?” she tweeted, elaborating, “Population control is a long-term policy issue that needs more awareness than law but instead of paying attention to the real priorities of the country, the BJP governments are choosing devious and controversial issues.”

Political observers feel Ms. Mayawati’s comments indicate a renewed desire to court Muslims in the State after the BSP’s encouraging performance in the Azamgarh bypoll last month, where its candidate Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali secured more than 2,60,000 votes (29% of the votes polled) and finished a close third.

“The bypoll performance in Azamgarh provided some much-needed relief for Mayawati after the party’s disastrous show in Assembly polls. It highlighted that the BSP can get a sizeable chunk of Muslim votes and now Mayawati is trying to reach out to them through these statements,” said Satish K. Jha, a political scientist who teaches at Delhi University.

The BSP chief had hailed the Azamgarh performance saying “the bypoll result has once again highlighted that only BSP has the ideology and strength on the ground to defeat the BJP... the party will continue to explain this to a particular community so that the much-awaited political change can take place in the State”.

The BSP’s showing in the Muslim-dominated seat surprised many who had argued in the aftermath of the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh last year that the politically crucial State was increasingly transforming into a bipolar polity with the BJP on one side and the Samajwadi Party-led alliance on the other. The BSP was able to win only one seat and polled roughly 12.88% votes in the 2021 election, its lowest vote share since 1993 Assembly poll.