Lucknow: Not more than one percent of the state's budget has been spent on memorials to Dalit icons, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday said, extolling three years of her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government as an environment free of terror, crime, injustice and corruption. The opposition parties, however, flayed her governance.

The Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were all of the view that the three years of Mayawati regime have pushed the state backwards.

Besides plunder of the state exchequer for fulfilling her personal whims and fancies, they charged her with failing to do anything positive for the development of the state or the wellbeing of its people.

Addressing a press conference to mark three years of the BSP rule in the state, Mayawati staunchly defended the construction of memorials and statues to herself and Dalit icons.

"Yes, I have built memorials and statues to commemorate the rich contribution of such personalities who had done yeoman social service and reforms, but their work never received due recognition in successive Congress governments or the other regimes," she said.

Justifying the allocation of more than Rs.6,000 crore towards these memorials, she asserted: "Whatever I have spent each year towards commemoration of these icons was not more than one percent of the state's annual budget."

"What my government has achieved over a period of three years, since we rode on to power entirely on our own strength, cannot be matched by any other political party that has ever remained in power in the state."

Claiming there was "utter jungle raj" when the BSP assumed office in May 2007, she said: "And I am proud of the fact that in three years, I have been able to create a terror-free, fear-free, crime-free, injustice-free and corruption-free environment by putting the law of the land back on the rails."

In her view, her government "could have done wonders" had the central government extended cooperation in adequately sharing the cost of various development programmes. She ccused it of depriving the state of Rs.17,000 crore, "the state's legitimate share towards various schemes already carried out over the past three years".

Focussing on the Congress-led government's "conspiracy" against her regime, Mayawati recalled how New Delhi had not paid any attention to her repeated demand for a special economic package of Rs.80,000 crore for the uplift of Bundelkhand and Purvanchal.

Unlike in the past, Mayawati did not hold a big bash on her government's anniversary. But senior bureaucrats, police officials and the media were treated to a sumptuous lunch.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav issued a six-page statement condemning Mayawati in general and criticising her government on each and every count.

Dismissing her proclamations about improving law and order in the state, Mulayam termed her claims "false and baseless as several criminals were holding key positions as ministers in her government."

"How could her claim about creating a terror-free environment be true, when she was herself allegedly involved in extortion and she had herself given legitimacy to various criminal and mafia activities?" he asked.

Congress spokesman Subodh Srivastava flayed the Mayawati government for demolishing all democratic norms and values and for institutionaliding corruption.

"The crime situation could not be worse than it was prevailing under the Mayawati regime, where those directly engaged in arson and vandalism at the state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's residence were rewarded with positions in the rank of ministers."

Referring to the Mayawati government by elephant symbol, state BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dixit said: "The elephant has trampled the aspirations of the people. While farmers have been crushed, the youth have been oppressed and traders brow-beaten."

"Mayawati was responsible for crushing all democratic institutions, for which she displayed very little respect," he added.

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