Mayawati, Katiyar spat over Ambedkar

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Vinay Katiyar have locked horns over certain statements issued by Katiyar regarding B R Ambedkar.

Katiyar, in a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha function in Varanasi on Sunday, had blamed Muslims for spreading terrorism in India and to strengthen his allegation, quoted Ambedkar as having said, "Muslims are in a habit of adopting methods of terrorism to press their demands."

Mayawati described Katiyar's remarks as 'baseless and false'. "If Dr Ambedkar had been against any religion, the Indian Constitution would have been without a secular flavour."

She added, "It was Ambedkar who made provisions for no discrimination on the lines of caste, creed, or religion; his aim was to build an Indian society on human values."

She felt no one had the right to make statements undermining the stature of personalities like Ambedkar. "Katiyar's statement was unfortunate as it seemed to reduce the father of the Indian Constitution to a member of a particular community."

Katiyar stuck to his guns, claiming whatever he had said about Ambedkar was based on facts. "Whatever I have stated is neither a figment of my imagination nor intended to hurt anybody's sentiment; I simply picked up some quotes from the great man's speeches," he told rediff.com from Jhansi, where he was camping.

But Mayawati does not seem convinced. "Nobody has read Ambedkar and his works more than me; and I can affirm that whatever the state BJP president has said about him was distorted and intended at misleading people," Mayawati said in an official statement issued on Monday night.

The wordy duel between the two leaders may not pose any immediate threat to the ruling seven-month old BSP-BJP coalition in Uttar Pradesh. But what seems to be worrying Mayawati is the impact of Katiyar's statement on the psyche of Muslims, who have extended good support to her party at the last elections.

Out of the 99 BSP members in the 403-member state assembly, 14 are Muslims. Mayawati had fielded nearly 100 Muslims in the election too.