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UP polls: Modi invokes Charan Singh’s legacy
Those who have been seeking votes in Charan Singh’s name are trying to mislead people, says PM Modi at his third virtual rally for the UP polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked Jat leader and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh in western Uttar Pradesh even as he slammed the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal (SP-RLD) alliance in the context of the UP polls.
Modi cautioned the people that those who have been seeking votes in Charan Singh’s name were trying to mislead them.
Modi’s pitch came at his third virtually rally – his first physical rally on Monday couldn’t take place due to inclement weather – 72 hours before 58 seats in west UP go to polls on Thursday (February 10).
This happened 80 kilometres from the place where RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary, the grandson of Charan Singh, was seeking votes for the SP-RLD alliance in Meerut.
Jayant Chaudhary tweeted shortly after Modi’s virtual rally, in which the PM had said he couldn’t come due to inclement weather. In the tweet, the RLD leader said, “Bijnor mein dhoop khil rahi hai, lekin bhajapa ka mausam kharab hai (It’s sunny in Bijnor but BJP’s weather is bad).”
Campaigning for 58 seats in 11 west UP districts, of which Meerut, is a part will end on Tuesday (February 8). Bijnor will be among the 53 seats that go to polls in the second phase of the UP polls on February 14.
Avoiding a direct mention of the RLD, Modi stepped up the attack on the Samajwadi Party, describing it yet again as “nakli Samajwadi (fake socialists)” and urging the people not to vote on caste lines.
Both SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary have been campaigning in the region where they have been taking “anna pledge” (pledge over food grains for solidarity) and invoking Charan Singh’s legacy. Akhilesh has been describing him and Jayant as “sons of farmers”.
The west UP belt had witnessed a prolonged agitation by Jat farmers for rollback of the three contentious farm laws. Despite Modi eventually announcing their withdrawal with an apology, a section of Jat farmers have accused the BJP of reneging on promises made to convince them to call off their agitation.
Charan Singh is widely respected as a farmer leader in the region. With RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary rebuffing BJP’s advances, Modi, on whose name the party has won in the past, sought to project the BJP as the real inheritor of Charan Singh’s legacy.
“Following Chaudhary Charan’s Singh ideals, ensuring respect of all farmers is our goal,” Modi said.
A few days back, defence minister Rajnath Singh, while campaigning in the region, too, had described Charan Singh as the BJP’s “ideal”. Union home minister Amit Shah, during his west UP campaign, has been openly wooing Jayant Chaudhary.
“In previous governments, farmers seeking fertilizers and urea had to face police lathis. Today, those responsible for that are trying to invoke Charan Singh’s legacy to mislead you. Yogi ji’s government has made record payment of minimum support price (MSP) to farmers for their produce,” Modi said.
The prime minister talked about record payment to sugarcane farmers, the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi financial help for small and medium farmers, better road and highway connectivity among a host of measures that have been undertaken by “the double engine BJP government.”
Modi quoted a verse from famous poet Dushyant, who was born in Rajpur Navada village of Bijnor: “yahan tak aatey aatey sookh jaati hain kai nadiyan, mujhe maloom hai paani kahan thehra hua hoga (several rivers dry out on reaching here/I know where the water is stuck).” With this, he hit out at the Samajwadi Party claiming that the main opposition party was engaged in crime and corruption during its rule (2012-2017).
“They kept you in the dark so that crime could increase. We provided electricity, so that development could increase,” Modi said. He once again claimed that women felt safe under BJP rule where criminals had got their bail cancelled or fled from the state due to fear of law instilled in them by the Yogi Adityanath government.
“These criminals who had earlier fled the state are now itching to come back so that they could resume their criminal activities. They want to seek revenge and that is why they want to ensure division in the name of caste. Be careful of their designs, vote in large numbers and only for BJP’s lotus flower symbol, nothing else,” he said.
Modi coined a slogan “UP ne phir bhari hunkaar, ek baar phir Yogi sarkaar (UP calls out for a Yogi government yet again)” to showcase his continued backing of Adityanath, who his contesting his first assembly election from the Gorakhpur urban seat.
