Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s defeat would be more historic than his win. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led administration for the lack of development in the Purvanchal region.

Mayawati accused the Modi-led administration of deceit. “The Gujarat model of PM Modi was not at all successful in eliminating extreme poverty, unemployment and backwardness of the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh,” she tweeted. “Instead of development, the Modi-Yogi double-engined government has only given communal tension, hatred and violence to the country.”

She said that the Modi-led government failed to fulfill its promises to the people of Purvanchal despite the prime minister and chief minister of the state representing the region. “If Yogi can be turned down by Gorakhpur, wouldn’t the defeat of PM Modi from Varanasi be more historic than his win? Will Varanasi repeat what Raebareli did in 1977?”

Her comments were a reference to the 1977 elections when former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suffered a defeat from the Congress bastion of Rae Bareli.