Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday held Congress and Samajwadi Party equally responsible for the demolition of Babri Mosque in Ayodhya and said that it abstained from voting on the censure motion on the issue in Lok Sabha on Thursday as it did not want to side with those who had created the Ayodhya problem. Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, BSP National Vice President Mayawati said that while Congress was the real culprit for creating the Ayodhya imbroglio by ordering unlocking of the disputed structure and getting the shilanyas performed, it was the Samajwadi Party's rhetorics that united the Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and helped BJP gain political strength.
She said that it had been proved beyond doubt in the Lok Sabha that Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had a tacit understanding with the BJP and was also in a mood to abstain from voting but was forced to vote against the government under pressure from its Muslim MPs, she alleged.
On the Women Reservation Bill, which is scheduled to be taken up for discussion in Parliament next week, the BSP leader said that her party will oppose the bill in its present form and would vote against it unless separate reservation is granted to women belonging to backward castes and religious cminorities.
Bureau Report