MOHAMMAD TARIQUE SALEEM
Samajwadi Party national president and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has asserted that there should be no dishonesty in democracy and that those with greater numbers must get their due opportunity. He charged that had the BJP not resorted to unfair means in the previous Rajya Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party would have secured three seats. Labelling the BJP a dishonest party that practises deceit at every level, he declared that the people of Uttar Pradesh will remove it from power permanently this time.
The alliance that contested the Assembly elections will remain intact for the Lok Sabha polls as well. Victory alone will decide the allocation of seats. Referring to the PDA Rath Yatra in Rae Bareli, Yadav said the programme, dates and route had all been finalised at the party headquarters and received massive public support. Rae Bareli has already decided that this election will be a contest between Lodhi and Yogi. Despite the extremely poor treatment meted out to public representatives by the police and the caste-based task force, the region is expected to deliver a strong verdict in favour of the Samajwadi Party.
People of Meerut have realised that the BJP is nobody’s true well-wisher. Those who voted for the party saw their own houses and shops demolished. The BJP is a party of deception. The government continues to make false claims about investment and industry. Uttar Pradesh needs genuine industries, not paper MoUs. Only when real industrialists come with real investment will factories actually come up.
The opposition has repeatedly said that the police is acting at the behest of the BJP. In the Sambhal case, the truth of police injustice has now come to light. The Supreme Court imposed a fine of ten lakh rupees, after an earlier fine on the District Magistrate. Under the BJP government, the police and administration are committing injustice against the people. Fake encounters are taking place, sometimes even by policemen wearing slippers. The maximum number of those killed in these fake encounters belong to the PDA communities. The STF is packed with people of the Chief Minister’s own caste.
The people of Uttar Pradesh are preparing to remove the fake Yogi in the Assembly elections. The formation of a Samajwadi Party government is certain. In 2022, massive electoral fraud was committed to defeat the party; votes of its supporters were deleted on a large scale. When the issue was raised, the Election Commission issued notices and the party submitted thousands of affidavits. Voters whose names had been struck off could not cast their ballots. Similar large-scale rigging took place in the by-elections. In Mirapur, the police stopped women from voting and even pointed revolvers at them, yet the women still voted and were later honoured by the Samajwadi Party.
Addressing a press conference after the Kisan Sammelan at the party headquarters in Lucknow, Yadav said the country’s economy will become strong only when farmers prosper. Farmers work hard and feed the entire nation; when they progress, the country progresses. Recalling former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, he said the late leader raised the farmers’ voice, fought their battles and advanced their cause. The BJP government has betrayed the farmers. They did not receive fertiliser, seeds, pesticides and water on time. GST was imposed on farm machinery. Farmers are in distress.
A Samajwadi Party government will ensure fertiliser, seeds, water, cheap pesticides and machines. The BJP is forcibly selling nano urea, which the Samajwadi Party opposes. The government is making profits from sugar and by blending ethanol with petrol, yet the benefit is not reaching the farmers. Green is the colour of greenery and of farmers’ prosperity. Green and red together form the Samajwadi Party flag. The party has always been a friend of farmers and its governments have always taken decisions in their favour.
Under a Samajwadi government, farmers will receive remunerative prices for their crops and special facilities will be provided. Under the BJP, farmers are suffering losses on every crop and product from pulses, oilseeds, wheat, paddy, sugarcane and potato to milk. The government is offering no help and all its claims are false. Large-scale dairies will be set up for milk. During the earlier Samajwadi government, the first power feeder separation was done in Muzaffarnagar so that farmers received separate electricity for agriculture and irrigation charges were waived.
The BJP failed to complete the power plants initiated then. A government that cannot set up power plants can never give farmers cheap electricity. The Samajwadi Party will set up power plants, supply cheap electricity, make irrigation free and ensure sugarcane payments within 24 to 48 hours. Youth will be given jobs and employment. The BJP government acts as a middleman and does not help farmers. Floods have caused heavy damage to paddy, sugarcane and pulse crops, yet the government has provided no assistance. The demand is for full compensation for crop losses.
Yadav held the BJP government responsible for the floods. Silt has accumulated in the rivers and no desilting has been done. Rivers are becoming shallow. Where will the water go? Wrong design of embankments in Lucknow has caused waterlogging. Embankments are meant to prevent floods, yet under this government their design has resulted in flooding and waterlogging. Interestingly, there was no waterlogging on the Gomti Riverfront while the other side of the embankments was inundated. When the Chief Minister himself designs bridges and culverts, floods and waterlogging are inevitable. He is personally responsible for the floods and waterlogging in Gorakhpur.
Today Samajwadi Party national general secretary Professor Ram Gopal Yadav and Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections at the Vidhan Sabha building. National president Akhilesh Yadav, national general secretary and former cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, along with party MLAs and senior leaders, were present on the occasion.
