The Bharatiya Janata Party is treading cautiously in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh with various political parties wooing its caste-based core voters, and is focusing on courting people across castes and religions on a plank of “peace” and “improved law and order situation” in the state.
“Sabka saath, sabka vikas” (With everyone, for everyone’s progress) is the larger message being sent out to various communities by the ruling party, citing examples of how Muslims too got the benefits of central government schemes and that better law enforcement isn’ t just for one community.
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“Today people are living in peace and this peace is for everyone, be it Hindu or Muslim, or in fact people from any political party,” said Swatantra Dev Singh, the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit president.
‘No prejudice’
Speaking exclusively to News18.com, he said the schemes of the government are reaching everyone, without any prejudice. He went to Muzaffarnagar this week to a colony where 100 pucca houses were made for the Muslims and an equal number of houses were allotted to Hindus, the BJP leader said.
Singh, however, avoided responding on the issue of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary rebuffing union home minister Amit Shah’s proposal of aligning with the BJP by calling it a party that polarises. The UP BJP president said his party never talks of polarisation.
“We talk about antyodaya, to reach out to the last man standing in the queue, pucca houses for the poor, clean drinking water to every household, safety of livestock and people,” added Singh.
Jayant Chaudhary said he can’t ever forge an alliance with a party that polarises people and thus no agreement is possible with the BJP. His remarks came after Amit Shah at a meeting of Jat leaders in Delhi said though the RLD chief has chosen the wrong home, the BJP’s doors are still open for him.
Swatantra Dev Singh maintained that the meeting with Shah was of BJP workers and a routine one, where deliberations are done on expanding the party’s reach, “unlike SP that is a party of dynasty and of one gotra (lineage)”. He also asserted that the Jats are with the BJP and the party will get 300 of the 403 UP assembly seats.
Singh then directed his attack towards the Samajwadi Party and its reign of “gundaraj” (lawlessness).
“Criminals used to snatch earrings and scooties from people and there was no lodging of reports. In the Yogi Adityanath government, criminals are fleeing the state and traders are coming in,” said Singh.
He also responded to SP’s Siwalkhas candidate Ghulam Mohammad’s allegation that the issue of “Hindu exodus” from Kairana was a creation of the BJP and not reality.
“Janta bataegi, janta janardan iska jawab degi. SP mein kya hota hai…nanga naach hota hai, tandav hota hai. Mushtaq, Atiq, Azam Khan ka aatank dekha hai humne state mein, Gazipur, Purvanchal atank dekh lijiye. Thane SP ke office ho jaate hain (People will reply to them. We know what used to happen during the SP regime, criminals had a field day be it Mushtaq, Atiq or Azam Khan. Police stations used to be taken over by the SP goons ),” said Singh.
‘Vote for Yogi-Modi’
Concerned about public resentment against party candidates, Swatantra Dev Singh exhorted the people to vote for the duo of Yogi-Modi for the better future of the state.
“Do not abandon Yogi-Modi; else the country will never forgive you. The victory of SP-BSP means your daughters will be forcibly picked up in the night,” said Singh to a selected group of voters.
The party’s state unit has decided to fall back on this tried-and-tested combination for the February-March polls, adding that this election is about the nation and not region or caste.
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“You may be angry with me or with the candidate that we did not respond to your greetings or had food with you but this election is greater than that. This is yudh (battle), aar paar ki ladai (the final war). Choose a better future for your grandchildren,” Singh said, while addressing a key voters’ meeting in Kharkhauda, Kithore assembly constituency.
To underscore the point of better law and order situation, the BJP has been emphasizing before voters that the state has witnessed no riots under the Yogi Adityanath government.
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