In what could be seen as the beginning of the campaign for the Assembly elections in 2022, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal vice president Jayant Chaudhary on Friday rooted for a social alliance to oust the Bhartiya Janta Party from power in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing a massive kisan mahapanchayat in Bajna town of Mathura, Mr. Yadav said BJP got into power by dividing people. “Once farmers become united and aware, BJP would be ousted,” said Mr. Yadav.
Bajna is considered to be a stronghold of RLD and this was the first meeting against the contentious farm laws where leaders of both the alliance partners shared the stage. Through the farm laws, Mr. Yadav charged, the BJP and its corporate friends were trying to snatch “our farming”. “It won’t be done in a day but over a period of time,” he said.
‘Rise above caste’
Mr. Chaudhary appealed to the farmers to rise above caste and religious barriers, create a social alliance and vote as a unit. “Today, apart from Kisan Ekta Zindabad, I would like to give you the slogan of bhaichara [brotherhood] zindabad . Chaudhary Charan Singh became the leader of farmers not because he was a Jat but because he commanded the respect of different sections of society,” he said. “We want to reach a stage where Akhilesh Yadav could contest from Mathura and I could stand from Ghazipur,” said Mr. Chaudhary.
He said a farmer should realise that he wouldn’t survive if his fields didn’t prosper. “I appeal to you to believe in each other. I warn you that the leaders of the ruling party will try to divide you. Their speeches start with a description of riots and end with riots.”
Questioning the employment figures provided by the State government, Mr. Chaudhary said while the BJP leaders talk of the Muzaffarnagar riots and the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana, they want to talk about employment and development.
He lashed out at U.P. government for spending crores on the fourth-anniversary programmes and advertisements when the youth in the State were facing unemployment and the farmers were not getting the right price of their produce.
“The youth and the farmers will annihilate the arrogance of this government in the forthcoming elections,” he said.
False hopes
Mr. Yadav said if the farmers were left at the mercy of the market, they would not be able to make any profit. “These panchayats are meant to awaken farmers and tell them that the BJP-led government had only given them false hopes. They promised to bring the black money back through demonetisation. They made you dream about your income getting doubled. But they have failed on both the counts,” he said.
Commenting on being presented with lathis at the panchayat, Mr. Yadav quipped he and Jayant were too young to use them for support. “But now that you have presented them to us, we know where to use them,” he said.
The two leaders arrived together on a tractor and the organisers ensured that both the parties got equal weightage in slogans and songs.
