LUCKNOW: BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday appealed to students and Gen Z to stay away from what she described as “conspiracies” of both the ruling and opposition camps, accusing the BJP and the Congress of trying to “hijack” youth protests for their political interests, news agency PTI reported.Addressing select media in Lucknow, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said students and young people across the country were deeply concerned about their problems and that the BSP remained “serious and sensitive” towards addressing them.The appeal by Mayawati, also fondly referred to as Behen Ji, came a day after Bahujan Samaj Party national coordinator and her nephew Akash Anand made an emphatic outreach bid to Gen Z and the youth during a party rally in Hathras district.Mayawati also accused the BJP and the Congress of disrupting Parliament over various issues, alleging that this was either an “internal collusion” to divert public attention from shortcomings of their governments or a conspiracy to capture power.She claimed that neither the BJP nor the Congress was serious about addressing the issues faced by the youth.Mayawati alleged that the recent student and youth protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar was initially launched by what she described as the “Cockroach Janata Party” (CGP), but was subsequently “hijacked” by the Congress and its allies.She alleged that Parliament had still not been able to function under its cover and said a similar situation was emerging in Ranchi, where students and youths were protesting over their issues but were later “hijacked” by the BJP and its allies.“Delhi’s Jantar Mantar student and youth movement and now the movement in Ranchi… we are seeing more politics in their garb,” Mayawati said, alleging that neither the ruling nor opposition parties were showing seriousness towards resolving the problems of the youth.She said the movements were being dominated by “narrow politics” driven by electoral interests rather than genuine efforts to resolve the problems of students and young people.Mayawati appealed to Gen Z to “stay away from the conspiracies of the ruling and opposition parties” and use them cautiously to get their issues resolved instead of allowing political parties to exploit their protests for electoral gains.The BSP supremo also slammed the ruling BJP over the reservation system, accusing it of weakening quota provisions that were brought in during the BSP regime.“We are not against the private sector, but reservation should be available in the private sector in the same way as it is available in government jobs,” she said.She alleged that poor, unemployed and disadvantaged sections were being pushed further behind while benefits were accruing to the rich.Mayawati further alleged that public-sector institutions had been weakened while the private sector was being promoted, benefiting big industrialists and pushing poor and unemployed people further behind.According to PTI, Mayawati claimed that reservation for Dalits, tribals and other backward classes in government jobs had become “almost negligible” and alleged that RSS members were working to make it ineffective.She said that while the BSP was not opposed to the private sector, reservation for disadvantaged sections should be provided there on the lines of government jobs. She claimed that during BSP rule, reservation had also been provided in industries established with government assistance.Mayawati also claimed that during her four terms as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, her government had not discriminated against any section and had worked on the principle of “Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay” (welfare and happiness of all).She said BSP governments had removed a long-standing freeze on government recruitment, which had affected the functioning of departments, and provided “lakhs and lakhs” of people with livelihood opportunities. She also claimed that new government posts were created in the police and other departments, providing employment to lakhs of people.Mayawati said the inability of governments at the Centre and in states to provide employment opportunities to students and youth after completion of their education and training was causing “tremendous anger” among them.She said Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab would go to assembly polls together after some time and appealed to all sections, including students, youths, Dalits, tribals, backward classes, Muslims and other minorities, farmers, labourers, traders and employees, to strengthen the BSP.She also appealed to the poor, unemployed and other hardworking sections to strengthen the BSP, describing it as “the need of the hour” in the national and public interest.Mayawati said that during BSP governments, students and youths were not allowed to be disappointed and special attention was paid to their livelihood. She claimed that new employment opportunities were created in both the government and private sectors.She also alleged that there was a conspiracy through the alleged “internal collusion” of the ruling and opposition parties to again make disadvantaged sections “helpless”, and urged them to remain alert across Uttar Pradesh and the country.Mayawati called the BSP the country’s “only pro-Ambedkarite party” and urged these sections to join it and bring it back to power.(With agency inputs)
