Paswan, also Union Minister for Steel and Chemical and Fertilisers, termed her "sympathetic gestures" towards Dalits as a "political stunt" and said she was not serious about spreading the ideals of Dalit thinkers like Ambedkar, Jyotibarao Phule and E V Ramaswamy Naikar who was known as 'Periyar'.
"On one hand, Mayawati distanced herself from a book penned by Periyar which was in circulation in UP and on the other hand she is trying to glorify herself by installing her own statues at various places," Paswan said in Bhander, Madhya Pradesh.
He claimed that the Mayawati-led BSP has put the ideology of Ambedkar "on the back burner". "We will not let the ideology of Ambedkar die. We will continue to spread the ideologies of Ambedkar, Jyotibarao Phule and Periyar among the masses," he added.