26 august 2024 : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday revisited the 1995 Lucknow ‘state guest house incident’ to criticise the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the “deadly assault” on her and the Congress for not coming to her aid despite being in power at the Centre at the time.
This statement comes just three days after Mayawati expressed gratitude to SP president Akhilesh Yadav for his support against “objectionable comments” made by a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA 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.
What was Lucknow state guest house incident?
• On June 2, 1995, Mayawati announced her decision to withdraw BSP support from the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government.
• Following this, Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders and workers allegedly attacked her at a guest house in Lucknow where she was meeting her party leaders.
• Mayawati was rescued from the guest house by BJP leaders.
• Subsequently, the governor dismissed the Mulayam Singh Yadav government and invited Mayawati to form the new government.
Mayawati slams Congress
BSP supremo questioned why Congress never addressed this incident, despite being in power at the Centre at that time. Mayawati also criticised the Congress for allegedly planning to impose president’s rule in Uttar Pradesh after the attack, a move she claimed was thwarted by the BSP.
“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.
Mayawati said that the entire opposition, including the BJP, had come to her aid during the attack.
She also raised concerns about Congress’s commitment to ensuring the rights of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the context of a caste census.
