Ending decades-long rivalry, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday, 19 April, shared the dais at an election rally in Mainpuri.
Mayawati was campaigning for Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam, who is contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the party bastion of Mainpuri.
In her speech, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo didn’t shy away from bringing up the cause of their bitter rivalry – “The guest house scandal.”
What Happened at Lucknow Guest House in 1995?
When the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak, the SP-BSP coalition was able to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from winning Uttar Pradesh elections in 1993.
However, the alliance lasted only for two years, resulting in the fall of the Mulayam Singh government in 1995. The break-up of the Mulayam-Kanshi Ram government resulted in one of the most grim chapters of Uttar Pradesh politics, infamously known as the ‘guest house scandal.’
On 2 June 1995, the combined anger of SP workers after the BSP’s announcement to withdraw from the coalition resulted in chaos at Lucknow’s Meerabai Guest House. The incident is considered one of the biggest deal-breakers between Mayawati and Mulayam.
An unruly mob of SP workers marched into the guest house, where Mayawati was in a meeting with her MLAs.
According to reports, her room was vandalised, casteist and sexual slurs were thrown about, and she was beaten up. The BSP MLAs present in the room failed to protect her.
Eventually, BJP MLA Brahm Dutt Dwivedi stepped into the room and escorted Mayawati to safety.
After the ‘humiliating’ guest house episode, Mayawati went on to form the government with the BJP’s help.
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