A day before polling in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday, 18 May, launched another attack at him saying that his Gujarat model failed in Purvanchal, Uttar Pradesh.
She said she wondered if Varanasi would be a repeat of Raebareli in 1977 when maverick politician Raj Narain defeated Indira Gandhi.
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has now written to the Chief Election Commissioner for allegedly violating Model Code of Conduct. The BJP alleges that Mayawati posted the tweets to influence voters after the campaigning hours ended for the 7th phase of the ongoing general elections.
On her Twitter handle, she accused Modi in Uttar Pradesh of ignoring the development of the state's eastern region.
She tweeted: “PM Modi's Gujarat model in UP's Purvanchal failed to eliminate extreme poverty. unemployment and backwardness. Instead of any development, Modi-Yogi's double-engine government has only given the caste and communal hysteria hatred and violence to the country, which is very sad.”
Will History Repeat Itself?
In a following tweet, she launched an attack against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Modi, referring to the Lok Sabha elections of 1977.
She tweeted: “This betrayal and treachery happened with Purvanchal when the PM and UP's CM represent the same area. Yogi has been rejected by Gorakhpur, so in this case, more than Modi's victory, won't his defeat in Varanasi be more historic? Will Varanasi be a repeat of Rae Bareli of 1977?”
What Happened in Raebareli in 1977?
Though she did not elaborate on the context, the apparent reference was to the post-Emergency general election when Indian National Congress’ Indira Gandhi had got 1,22,517 votes and lost to Janata Party’s Raj Narain who bagged 1,77,719 votes in the electoral battle in Raebareli.
In 1977, Narain had lost to Indira Gandhi for the Raebareli seat, after which Narain launched a ferocious legal campaign to unseat her for the violation of electoral practices.
On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad High Court ruled that Narain was right and Gandhi was disqualified. Soon after the declaration of emergency by Gandhi, the Janata Party came to power in 1977.
(With inputs from ANI)
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