Mayawati recalls 1995 guest house incident to slam SP, Congress

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Monday referred to the 1995 Lucknow 'state guest house incident' to attack the Samajwadi Party for the "deadly assault" on her, and the Congress for not coming to her aid despite being in power at the Centre at that time.

The fresh salvo comes three days after the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief expressed her gratitude to Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav for his stance on the "objectionable comments" made by a BJP MLA against her during a TV debate.

"The SP had carried out a deadly attack on me on June 2, 1995, after the BSP withdrew its support, then why does Congress never speak on this? The Congress government at the Centre during that time also did not fulfil its responsibility on time," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a post on X.

"Even when Kanshi Ram ji was in a serious condition and hospitalised, the home minister had to be reprimanded and the opposition also gheraoed the Parliament, only after that did the Congress government take action," she said in Hindi.

"Because at that time the central Congress government's intentions had also become bad, which after some untoward incident wanted to run its government from behind the scenes by imposing president's rule in Uttar Pradesh, whose conspiracy was foiled by BSP," Mayawati further claimed.

On June 2, 1995, after she announced her decision to withdraw support from the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, SP leaders and workers reached the guest house where Mayawati was scheduled to meet her party leaders and allegedly attacked her.

She was rescued from the guest house by BJP leaders. Later, the governor sacked the Mulayam Singh Yadav dispensation and invited Mayawati to form the government.

Mayawati said the entire opposition, including the BJP, had fulfilled its duty to save her from criminal elements of the SP in the name of humanity. "So why does the Congress keep having trouble with this from time to time? People should be aware of it." "Apart from this, the BSP has been putting full pressure for a caste census for years, first on the Congress at the Centre and now on the BJP," Mayawati said.

"But after the caste census, will the Congress be able to ensure the rightful rights of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs)? Those who are still silent on the issue of classification and creamy layer in SC/ST reservation should answer," she added.

The 1995 incident had strained ties between the SP and the BSP for years before the two parties briefly formed an electoral alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.