Akhilesh launches rath yatra from Kanpur, says BJP “crushed” farmers - Hindustan Times
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Akhilesh launches rath yatra from Kanpur, says BJP “crushed” farmers

ByHaidar Naqvi
Oct 12, 2021 06:40 PM IST

The SP chief will focus on farmers, youth and their problems during this journey, the first leg of which will end on October 13

KANPUR Launching his party’s Mission 2022 with a rath yatra, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP, saying it had “crushed farmers,” and on return to power in Uttar Pradesh, would “crush the Constitution” as well.

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav holds a party flag while waving to supporters during Vijay Rath Yatra for 2022 Assembly elections, in Kanpur on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)
Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav holds a party flag while waving to supporters during Vijay Rath Yatra for 2022 Assembly elections, in Kanpur on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)

The composite culture (Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb) of UP was the identity of the people here and the Samajwadi Vijay Yatra was about saving this tehzeeb, said the former UP CM while kick-starting the Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra from Kanpur’s new Ganga bridge, which will cover all 403 Assembly segments ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in the state.

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The SP chief will focus on farmers, youth and their problems during this journey, the first leg of which will end on October 13. The yatra will pass through Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Hamirpur and Jalaun in the first phase and promises to make people aware about the “corrupt, autocratic and suppressive” policies of the BJP government and establish “real democracy”.

Buoyed by the enthusiasm of SP workers who rode boats in the Ganga, Akhilesh Yadav appeared on top of his motorized rath (a bus) with five-year-old Khazanchi, the child who was born in a queue outside a bank in Kanpur Dehat during demonetisation days. Waving the party flag, Khazanchi flagged off the Vijay Yatra, which halted at Hamirpur where a meeting was held.

“The Samajwadi Vijay Rath will run from Ganga to Yamuna. We are starting this yatra with the blessings of Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav). We have come out to seek the cooperation and support of the public. The people of UP have been cheated by the BJP government…a change is inevitable,” he said.

Attacking the ruling party, Yadav said: “The BJP has crushed farmers, and if they come back to power, they are all set to crush the Constitution. “Therefore, the Samajwadi Vijay Rath will go to people and throw the BJP out of power,” the former CM said in apparent reference to the mowing down of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri last Sunday.

Yadav said UP was the land of farmers, but they were being oppressed.

“They were promised double income but their income has been taken away.

The farmers are not being given the price of their standing paddy crop,” he said.

Yadav said the state should be rebuilt and put on the path of development. “The BJP government is selling everything – from airports to ports. It won’t be a surprise, if in days to come, the government is outsourced,” he said.

Speaking in Ghatampur, the former CM said the Samajwadi Party would not hesitate in giving free power and water to people, if voted to power.

Rath yatras have been an important part of the Samajwadi Party’s campaign since 2001. Akhilesh Yadav led the yatra in 2012 and the party was voted to power. He was sworn in as the chief minister.

Now, Yadav is travelling in a Mercedes bus, which has been turned into a ‘rath’ having his posters displayed on one side and that of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on the other, besides a picture of party leader Mohammad Azam Khan. The bus is also adorned with pictures of SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, party state president Naresh Uttam Patel, and an embossed slogan ‘Bado Ka Hath Yuva Ka Sath’ (the older generation blesses the new).

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Haidar Naqvi covers central UP and Bundelkhand. He closely tracks developments in internal security in the region and beyond.

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