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UP elections: SP always focuses on revenge, says Modi
The Samajwadi Party (SP) is practising “nakli samajwad (fake socialism)”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, alleging that the main opposition party in UP was focusing on revenge.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) is practising “nakli samajwad (fake socialism)”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, alleging that the main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh was focusing on revenge, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was working for progress in the state.
“We are focusing on changing UP, while they are betting on revenge,” Modi said. “They have given tickets to such people whose bhasha (language), vyavahar (conduct), itihaas (past), kartoot (doings) and karnamey (misdeeds) speak for themselves. Revenge is always in their thoughts, but I am happy that people in UP are aware and alert against people with such dangai soch (mindset of rioters).”
Speaking at his first virtual rally for 21 assembly constituencies in western UP spread across five districts that go to polls in the first and second phases on February 10 and 14, the Prime Minister refrained from commenting on the SP’s alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal, a gesture that is being seen as part of the BJP’s efforts to prod RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary to align with the saffron outfit.
RLD has a strong following among Jat farmers in western UP, who were at the centre of the protests over the three farm laws that have since been scrapped.
Political parties are holding virtual rallies because the Election Commission of India has banned in-person rallies and road shows due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Five years ago, in my western UP campaign, I had promised we would not leave any stone unturned to take the state forward,” the Prime Minister said. “And in these years, the Yogi Adityanath government has worked wholeheartedly for the people.”
“Who can forget that five years ago, when this region was burning during the riots, the then government was celebrating?” Modi asked rhetorically in a veiled reference to the familiar BJP charge that while violence raged in western UP in the aftermath of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, the then SP government was busy with the Saifai Mahotsav.
Saifai is the native village of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party patron whose government started the practice of Saifai Mahotsav.
The BJP regime has ensured safety and security of women in the state, Modi said. He also said the youth is supporting his party.
“The youth would not want UP to slide back to the days when its leaders wouldn’t visit Noida due to the superstitious belief of losing power,” said Modi, who had earlier praised Adityanath for breaking the jinx of a serving chief minister losing power on visiting Noida.
“How can the youth identify with these people who don’t trust Indian scientists and vaccines,” he asked, in an apparent dig at SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s comment on terming the Covid vaccine as “BJP ki vaccine”. Yadav had subsequently corrected himself and said he had faith in Indian scientists.
“Inka Samajwad nakli hai (their socialism is fake). UP needs a government that embraces adhunikta (modernism) while valuing its virasat (cultural heritage),” the Prime Minister said.
He claimed that against 73 houses for the poor in Gautam Budh Nagar district in five years of SP rule, the Adityanath government built 23,000 houses in the same period.
“In all, over 33 lakh houses have been built for the poor, and this means that these many poor have become millionaires now,” he said. “Most of these houses have been given in the name of the family’s women, making them real owners of their houses.”
“The law against triple talaq to help Muslim women, as well as the effort to raise the marriageable of women to 21 years, are part of our steps to ensure that women are able to live their dreams,” he added.
Modi’s address was telecast live to BJP cadres and people in assembly constituencies of Nakur, Behat, Saharanpur City, Saharanpur Dehat, Deoband, Gangoh, Rampur Maniharan, Budhana, Purkazi, Charthawal, Muzaffarnagar, Khatauli, Meerapur, Chaprauli, Badaut, Baghpat, Dadri and Jewar, among others.
The seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held between February 10 and March 7. The results will be declared on March 10.
The SP reacted sharply to Modi’s comment, saying they were empty words.
“This is nothing more than jumlebaazi (empty words) of nakli pradhansevak. The country is paying the price of this jumlebaazi,” said SP’s national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi. “People have stopped believing what Modi says now. He has derailed the economy. Unemployment rate is rising. Joblessness is creating a sense of frustration in the youth of the country. This is the election between performers and non-performers. The Prime Minister has become the non-performing asset.”
