New Delhi, June 18: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Kanshi Ram today said that the Mayawati Government in Uttar Pradesh would deal firmly with the `hulla bol' agitation planned by the Samajwadi Party (SP) to highlight alleged police excesses in the State.

Speaking to newsmen in New Delhi, Kanshi Ram said that it was for the Mayawati Government to silence the SP activists if they went ahead with their agitation.

``Unko chup karana sarkar ki jimmewari hai ... The law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh will be maintained at all costs. The Government will take appropriate steps to deal with the situation. This is the paramount duty of any elected government in a democracy,'' he said.

``The law and order situation is normal. And when we enforce the law, criminal elements make a hue and cry. How can the government remain a passive spectator to the activities of these elements?'' he said.

Referring to complaints about misuse of the Untouchability Act by the Uttar Pradesh Government, Kanshi Ram said the Act which was passed by Parliament could be repealed only by the Centre. ``Mulayam Singh Yadav (the SP chief), who is complaining about its misuse, should use his political clout and have the Act repealed,'' he said.

He said that Mayawati was running the State according to the BSP ideology of replacing the Brahmanical order with a humane system. ``The BJP has not come in the way of our programmes, including `land to the landless' and renaming of districts and others aimed at bringing about social changes.'' He said he expected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government, which is to take over from Mayawati in September, to pursue the same policies. Describing his party's tie-up with BJP as temporary, he said this link was forged taking into account the peculiar situation in UP.

``We will review our relations after the BJP completes the tenure of six months from September,''he said. He declined to comment on Bihar Governor A R Kidwai's sanction for the prosecution of Chief Minister Laloo Prasad in the fodder scam. ``I have nothing to say on the issue. '' he said.The BSP today held a training camp for over one hundred activists from all over the country, including MPs and MLAs, to brief them about the latest political situation.

``We do not know when the present Government would collapse and a new Government would come into being''. The BSP, he said, should be vigilant and take steps to further the Dalit movement.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.