Modi playing ‘dirty politics’ over Alwar gangrape: Mayawati on PM’s ‘crocodile tears’ jab

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks that she was shedding "crocodile tears" over the Alwar gangrape incident and accused him of doing "dirty politics". Addressing election rallies in Kushinagar and Deoria in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Modi launched a scathing attack on Mayawati and dared her to withdraw support to the Congress government in Rajasthan over the Alwar gangrape.

"Please do not shed crocodile tears. If you are serious, why don’t you withdraw support to the Congress government in Rajasthan?" the prime minister said referring to the BSP chief’s criticism of the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan.

Hours after the prime minister’s remarks, Mayawati came hard on Modi and launched a counteroffensive asked him why didn’t he take the responsibility for such incidents happened in the past.

"In the wake of this (Alwar) incident, Modi is doing dirty politics. The BSP will for sure take an appropriate political decision in the absence of stringent and proper legal action in the case," the BSP leader said.

She retorted with a list of incident on which the prime minister allegedly remained silent and didn’t take moral responsibility. "The BSP will take a required political decision soon, but why is PM Modi not taking moral responsibility for the incidents in the past, such as Una flogging incident, Rohit Vemulla case or other cases pertaining to Dalit atrocities? Why is he not resigning," she said in press note.

On April 26, a woman from scheduled caste was gangraped by five people in front of her husband for three hours while she begged for mercy and let them go. The police didn’t register their FIR till May 2 and allegedly told them to wait till the elections are over. Both the BJP and the BSP chief has accused the Congress government in the state of brushing aside the case for political gains.