Mayawati was addressing a rally at Saharanpur ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election expected in early 2017. In addition to Uttar Pradesh, the BSP also has a presence in Punjab and Uttarakhand in north India and will be contesting polls in these two states, also slated for 2017. The term of the state governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana will end in 2019. “BSP has in the past fought elections in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab but to no avail. Recently, Muslims were also targeted in Mewat in Haryana over the issue of cow meat while in Uttar Pradesh, the Muslims who were the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots still have not received justice,” she said.

Source: Mint September 11, 2016 17:28 UTC