LUCKNOW: Holding the first virtual rally to seek votes for BJP candidates fielded in 21 constituencies across five districts of western UP set to go to the polls in the first phase on February 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday targeted the previous Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government calling it a regime run by rioters and muscle men.
Addressing around 50,000 people through 98 Jan Panchayat centres across Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat and Noida, PM Modi brought the communal conflagration of Muzaffarnagar back again into his discourse reminding the voters how those at the helm then in 2013 were celebrating when western UP was burning due to riots. "Western UP was burning and those in power were celebrating," he asserted, adding that five years ago, rioters and muscle men used to be a law unto themselves in UP and roamed freely under government patronage.
He claimed that migration of innocents, extortion, abductions and ransom were the order of the day, traders were looted and daughters could not come out of their homes five years ago in the state.
The PM said that now those who had been away from power for the last five years were desperate to grab it again by any means. “They want to get the power to take revenge and settle scores,” he cautioned.
Urging the voters to exercise their right to strengthen the development agenda, the PM said that the BJP had the clear vision for development with a clean and effective leadership on one hand, while “on the other, the ‘pseudo-samajwadis’ are dreaming to grab power. In the name of vision, they just have arrogance and annoyance,” he added.
Inviting first-time voters and youth to come forward to change the politics of fear, lies and disinformation, the PM took a jibe at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav saying those who avoid coming to Noida, the nerve centre of young energy, would never be able to fulfill the aspirations of youth.
In a dig aimed at Yadav’s initial remarks on Covid vaccines, Modi said, “Those who don't believe in India's own Covid vaccine and fuel rumours, can they respect the talent of UP's youth?”
Further, the PM, heaping praise on UP CM Yogi Adityanath for his performance during the last five years, drew a comparison between the level of delivery of welfare schemes during the Yogi government and Akhilesh government. “During the previous regime, only 73 houses were built in Gautam Budh Nagar during their tenure of five years, while the Yogi Adityanath-led government built about 23,000
houses in five years for the urban poor of Noida,” said the PM.
He claimed that while only 800 houses were built in Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat cities by the Samajwadi government during its entire tenure, the Yogi government gave houses to more than 33,000 poor people in those three cities.
Speaking on corruption, the PM claimed that if the leadership was guided by sentiment of serving the people, corruption would never creep into the system. “We stopped the system of cuts and commissions by extending the benefits of welfare schemes directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries,” he maintaned.
PM Modi raised the issue of farmers’ welfare during his discourse saying the focus of the coming government would be entirely on farmers, especially the small ones as they would help change the picture of the nation. Western UP had seen unrest among farmers over the three contentious farm laws which the PM repealed in November, last year.
As per the common perception, the farming community of western UP has some anger towards the BJP and it might reflect in the upcoming electios. The party had won 109 of 136 seats across western UP in 2017 with the overwhelming support of Jats who make most of the farmers’ community.
Seeking the vote for deliverance and development, the PM invoked the law against triple talaq to mitigate the sufferings of Muslim women and RERA to help investors get their flats in time without hiccups. “Mind you, if they (opposition) are given the chance, they could even turn the law under RERA down to help the real estate sharks,” cautioned the PM.