The electoral battle of the first two rounds in western Uttar Pradesh has entered a decisive phase. Top leaders of the ruling BJP, RLD-SP alliance, BSP and Congress are trying their best at the last minute to get people in their favor. The first round of voting for 58 seats in western UP is on February 10.
Yogi Akhilesh
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Yogi Adityanath) has called upon the people of western UP to be careful about the slogan of “two boys ki jodi”, a sign of the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Uttar Pradesh elections.Samajwadi Party) was on the side of the alliance of chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD president Jayant Chaudhary. Yogi said that this alliance has nothing to give to the people of western Uttar Pradesh.
Targeting both Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary, the Chief Minister said that when people were migrating from Kairana after the riots, these people were hiding in their den. One of them got the riots done sitting in Lucknow, while BJP leaders like Suresh Rana, Sanjeev Baliyan kept their lives on their palms to protect the people.
Muzaffarnagar riots mentioned
Yogi has played the emotional card of the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 and the exodus of people from Kairana in 2016. While campaigning in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, he said that peace was restored in the area only after the formation of the BJP government in 2017.
Recalling the Muzaffarnagar riots during the Akhilesh government, Yogi asked what was the fault of youth like Sachin and Gaurav? They were just trying to save their sisters and in turn SP’s goons killed them both. “Now these rioters are roaming around with placards hanging around their necks, begging for their lives,” he said.
Yogi said that today there is no migration from Kairana and Kandhla. He said that every daughter of western UP can now feel safe. The double engine government of BJP has given this guarantee of security to every woman.
‘BJP trying to polarize’
However, in Aligarh, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav rubbished Yogi’s claims, saying that the BJP was trying to sideline the issues of farmers in western UP. He said Yogi, full of desperation and despair, was making remarks against him and Jayant like “summer will go out”. BJP fears that it will lose the election. Akhilesh Yadav said that while the SP-RLD alliance is in the run-up to the 2022 elections with the slogan “Bhaichara vs BJP”, the saffron leaders have returned to their communal agenda to polarize voters and poison the atmosphere. He said the BJP has completely deviated from the core problems of West UP as they realize the consequences because of their “anti-farmer policies”.
The electoral battle of the first two rounds in western Uttar Pradesh has entered a decisive phase. Top leaders of the ruling BJP, RLD-SP alliance, BSP and Congress are trying their best at the last minute to get people in their favor. The first round of voting for 58 seats in western UP is on February 10.
BJP is referring to mafia
It is worth noting that the farmers of western Uttar Pradesh have not been able to forget their one year agony on the Delhi-UP borders in protest against three controversial laws. The BJP camp, on the other hand, is trying hard to marginalize the issue of farmer-discontent by talking about “law and order” during the Samajwadi Party’s rule from 2012 to 2017. It is also creating fear among the people by saying that if the SP comes back to power again, then this area will again fall in the grip of turmoil, anarchy and mafia rule.
Addressing a gathering in Bulandshahr, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “If you make a mistake of voting (for SP), mafia people will sit in the state secretariat of Lucknow.” Shah reminded the crowd that under Yogi Adityanath’s regime, the mafia is either in jail, or has fled from UP or is on the list of SP candidates. “People like Azam Khan, Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari are behind bars,” he said.
The powerful Jat and Muslim communities have joined hands because of the farmers’ movement in western Uttar Pradesh and it supports the SP-RLD alliance. The BJP, on the other hand, had won 51 out of 71 seats in 2017 in Saharanpur, Meerut and Moradabad divisions. In order to maintain the support base gained during the last three elections, the BJP is once again working on a strategy to vigorously raise issues like “Muzaffarnagar model” and “Kairana exodus”.
Coalition engaged in keeping Jat-Muslim votes together
All senior party leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Yogi himself are largely reiterating the pathetic condition of “law and order” during the previous SP government. Reminding people repeatedly about the Muzaffarnagar riots has become an important part of his speeches.
However, the SP-RLD alliance is working on a strategy to keep the Jat-Muslim community united to counter the BJP’s polarizing campaign. For this, the alliance has coined the slogan “Bhaichara Vs BJP”. The Jat community, which constitutes about 20 per cent of the population in rural areas, is a powerful group that neither the BJP nor the SP-RLD can ignore. The Jat community here is quite prosperous. The Jat community in rural areas also affects the smaller castes as their financial interests are linked with that of the Jat community.
BJP accused of changing the constitution
In these areas, BJP is pushing mafia, Muzaffarnagar, Kairana exodus, Yogi’s bulldozer and other similar issues. On the other hand, SP-RLD has started sugarcane politics, which is the backbone of the economy of West UP. During their three-day tour of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut and Bulandshahr, Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Choudhary carried a bundle of sugarcane on their victory chariot. Both the leaders were greeting the people by bringing this bundle of sugarcane on the roof of the bus. The message was clear that the alliance is committed to protecting the fundamental financial interests of farmers. Jayant Chaudhary said in Shamli, “The alliance is not concerned about Jinnah, but about sugarcane. To communalise the atmosphere, BJP wants to incite people by repeatedly raising the issue of Jinnah.
On one hand BJP leaders are saying that “SP is a threat to UP” and on the other hand Akhilesh Yadav hits back by saying that “BJP is a big threat to the country as it is trying to change the Constitution.” In such a situation, now there is a tremendous fight between the two sides.
Even though the Yogi government has been making claims of payment of cane arrears, but on the basis of various reports, it can be said that still a huge amount of arrears in sugar mills have not been paid. Delay in payment of these dues is a major issue for the farming community not only in western UP but also in Rohilkhand and other sugarcane areas of eastern UP. Akhilesh Yadav has assured the farmers that if voted to power, they will be paid within 15 days. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has been raising this demand for a long time.
BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has also announced that he will take up the issue of farmers afresh from next week. Tikait said that the Kairana and Muzaffarnagar model is out of date and will not work in this election. He said, “If BJP is concerned about the family of Sachin and Gaurav (their murders had instigated the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013), the BJP should make their family members MPs or MLCs. Only after doing this should he talk about Sachin and Gaurav.
Also read- UP Election 2022: SP released new list of 24 candidates, fielded Sabhavati Shukla from Gorakhpur against CM Yogi
Also read- NewsNCR Final Opinion Poll: Muslim voters are standing with Samajwadi Party in the assembly elections, BJP at number three
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