BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was a man "with all the potential to ignite communal disharmony across the subcontinent", BSP chief Mayawati said here Thursday.

 

 Launching the Bahujan Samaj Party's election campaign in the state, the Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh blamed Modi for instigating the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat. "If BJP is elected to power, under Modi the nation will become a raging communal cauldron," Mayawati said.

 

 She said Modi always claims he can change the face of the country if elected. "I ask you, why could not his party do anything when it was ruling at the centre for six years. Don't fall for their manifestos," she urged people. Mayawati also said both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were together responsible for all the social ills plaguing the nation today.

 

 "Corruption is at its peak and so is terror. Maoism is on the rise because these parties have propounded policies that are exploitative in nature," she said. Attacking the media, Mayawati said these two parties are being projected as the only "key political outfits" in the country.

 

 "The Congress has ruled the country for nearly half a century and the BJP enjoyed power for six years at the centre. But these parties have been framing policies in favour of big business houses and industrialists as it is on their money power that they contested and won elections," Mayawati said.

 

 Ruing that the common man has always been ignored and neglected, she said her party has always contested polls from funds collected from party workers. "The BSP will never be under any pressure from corporate houses in running the government," she said, urging people to vote for her party.

 

 She said that during the BSP rule in Uttar Pradesh, her government ensured equal treatment to all sections of the society. "During our reign in UP, there were no communal riots. It was simply because we ensured that those who exploited the vulnerable classes were taken to task and booked, with proper follow-up legal action," she said.

 

 Earlier in the day, she also addressed a rally at Amravati. The BSP is contesting all 48 seats in Maharashtra. In 2009, it failed to win a single seat here.