Blaming the media for its "casteist agenda" of the media, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief (BSP) Mayawati announced her party would boycott TV debates.
Two days after the party clocked in its lowest ever tally of only one seat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, she said that the media's attitude had a role to play in the party's chances in the polls.
The former chief minister claimed the media adopted a “casteist, hateful and despicable approach” to “harm” the Ambedkarite BSP movement during the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on the instructions of “their bosses”.
"The work done by the media during the UP assembly elections to harm the Ambedkarite BSP movement by adopting casteist hatred and hateful attitude in the direction of their bosses is not hidden from anyone," Mayawati said on Twitter.
The spokespersons of the party – Sudheendra Bhadauria, Dharamvir Choudhary, MH Khan, Faizan Khan and Seema Kushwaha – will no longer participate in TV debates, she said.
Media’s Aggressive Propaganda Projecting BSP as the ‘B Team of the BJP'
On Friday, Mayawati had said it was the media had falsely projected the BSP as the "B team of the BJP" which in turn drove away Muslims and anti-BJP voters from it.
“This decision by the Muslims harmed the BSP because the party’s supporters among the upper castes, backwards and other communities were made to fear that the 'jungle raj' will return to UP again if the SP is elected to power. That is why these communities went to the BJP,” she said.
She said that results were opposed to the party’s expectations and emphasised that the party will come back to power.
Adityanath won his maiden Assembly election from Gorakhpur Urban constituency by over 1,00,500 votes. He was up against Samajwadi Party's Sabhawati Shukla, Bahujan Samaj Party's Khwaja Shamsuddin, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, and Congress' Chetna Pandey.
For the first time in 37 years, a party has been able to retain power in Uttar Pradesh after completing a full term.
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