LUCKNOW Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday invoked the ‘Iron Lady’ leadership of her four term government in Uttar Pradesh to attack the BJP government and call upon the people to bring her party back to power in the state next year.BSP chief Mayawati during a meeting of her party leaders and office-bearers in Lucknow on May 24. (HT photo)Addressing party leaders and office-bearers in a meeting here, she said the current political, social, and economic situation in the country is quite sad and bitter causing natural unease among the people.“The people are forced to live in distress due to policies and politics of the government that favour big capitalists and the wealthy,” the BSP chief alleged and said the government should not shirk its constitutional responsibility of welfare.The people need a government that works for public welfare with a focus on livelihood, peace, harmony, law and order. It will provide relief to the masses from crisis. The people of Uttar Pradesh must once again trust the time-tested party—the BSP—and its ‘Iron Lady’ leadership, she said.Assembly elections in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab will be held early next year or even a little earlier. We must learn from the current assembly election results when the ruling party and government succeed in influencing the elections in unexpected and unprecedented ways. Later the public feels deeply cheated, Mayawati said.“It is important to make people aware of the bitter experience of how governments and parties proclaim their pro-people and welfare activities during elections. They use money power to get votes but after the elections are over, they become equally indifferent and careless about their promises made during the electioneering,” she added.“The deceptive and divisive politics of these parties are not serving the country and the people. The public must be vigilant against such breach of promise. After the elections, the lives of the people are complicated by inflation, unemployment, new rules and regulations, making it difficult for millions of people and families to live with self-respect,” she said.The four-term BSP government provided a government focused on development and welfare. It also provided excellent governance in matters of crime control, law and order, setting an example not only for Uttar Pradesh but for the entire country, Mayawati claimed.The people should know that in 2007 assembly polls when the BSP formed the government, the Brahmin community and the weaker sections of society were given proper participation and full respect in the party and government. The interests of all sections are protected under the BSP government, she said.Mayawati told party leaders that every trick and conspiracy by opponents must be countered with full force. Caution should be exercised in the selection of party candidates for the 2027 polls. “The growing public sentiment is in favour of the BSP. We should achieve the missionary goal of forming a pro-people government in Uttar Pradesh for the fifth time,” she said.