Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday kicked off its poll campaign by holding the first of its seven Brahmin Sammelans at Ayodhya. The UP Assembly elections are due in 2022 and the BSP is struggling to win the confidence of the electorally influential Brahmin community.
BSP supremo Mayawati on July 18 had announced to hold Brahmin Sammelan to woo the Brahmin community ahead of UP Assembly elections from Ayodhya from July 23. Mayawati had entrusted the responsibility of the event on party national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra.
Addressing the meeting, Mishra, said that his party had made a pre-poll alliance with the public rather than with any political party. The BSP leader first visited the Hanuman Garhi and Shri Ram Lalla Janmabhoomi temples in Ayodhya for darshan.
He said that the BSP had made the biggest alliance with the people of the state for the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Mishra said that Bhagwan Shri Ram belonged to everyone and “we have also come to seek His blessings”.
He said Brahmins were safe during the BSP regime and they were honoured and respected whenever BSP was in power. Raising the issue of bail of Khushi Dubey, wife of Vikas Dubey's nephew Amar Dubey, in the Bikru case of Kanpur, Mishra said, “We will do everything possible to help Khushi Dubey who is lodged in Barabanki jail. Bahujan Samaj Party has made up its mind to fight a legal battle to get bail for the minor widow of Amar Dubey.”
He said the Brahmin community would join BSP again and form a popular government in the state for their dignity, security and progress.
“The Brahmin community is being exploited in the name of caste and religious hatred which has immensely damaged the interests of the enlightened class,” the BSP leader said. He said that at present the BSP had finalised the programme for holding such meetings till July 29. Mishra said a large number of people would be connected with the party by conducting seminars in every district of the state.
The BSP termed this sammelan as an intellectual class meeting instead of Brahmin sammelan to avoid any legal issue.
Earlier, the BSP leader was welcomed in Hanuman Garhi, Ayodhya, by Sanjay Das, the successor of Mahant Gyandas, former president of the Akhara Parishad. Mahant Sanjay Das said, “Hanuman Garhi belongs to all the devotees. We welcome everyone who comes here. We have nothing to do with politics.”
BSP's intellectual class conference will be held on July 24-25 in Ambedkar Nagar, July 26 in Prayagraj, July 27 in Kaushambi, July 28 in Pratapgarh and July 29 in Sultanpur.
Meanwhile, the state government imposed curbs on the much-publicised Brahmin Sammelans of the Bahujan Samaj Party. These sammelans (gatherings) have now been renamed as Prabuddha Varg Samman Sammelan to avoid the casteist tag to the event.
The district administration of Ayodhya, citing Covid protocols, allowed a congregation of only 50 participants at the conclave which was held on the outskirts of the city instead of Ayodhya.
