PM Modi was sleeping like 'Kumbhakarna': Mayawati on Dalit atrocities

New Delhi: BSP supremo Mayawati Monday assailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'delayed' condemnation of vigilante cow protectors, saying he was "sleeping like Kumbhkarna" for the last two years and made the statements to woo Dalit voters ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

"Modi was silent for the last two years. He slept like 'Kumbhakarna' (the mythological character in Ramayana who slept for six months at a stretch). He has woken up now because assembly elections are going to take place in Uttar Pradesh and some other states.

"He knew that he would not get a single Dalit vote. He gave the statements to get Dalit votes," she said.

Mayawati's criticism of the the Prime Minister came after his denunciation of the cow vigilantes, twice in two days in Delhi and Telangana.

Seeking to contain the damage to BJP government in his home state Gujarat, going to polls next year, following the Una Dalits flogging incident, and similar episodes in some other states, Modi had yesterday and the day before come down heavily on the so-called cow protectors, calling them "anti-socials" who should be "punished".