News Analysis India

Tag: UP elections

  • BJP silent but caste census demand gets louder

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  With Assembly elections scheduled next year, there has been a growing demand for caste census by political parties accusing BJP of keeping mum on the issue, while some regional parties are yet to clear their stand on the matter.

    An all-party delegation from Bihar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month over the issue. Eyeing UP elections early next year, the Samajwadi Party has launched a slogan ‘jiski jitni sankhya bhaari, utni uski hissedaari’ (partnership in government should be proportionate to the numbers of a community), while Congress has constituted a committee under former Union minister M Veerappa Moily to look into this.

    Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal have been silent and have not clarified their stand on the matter. BSP has been banking upon its social engineering formula to form a Dalit-Brahmin alliance, while RLD is focusing on Jat-Muslim unity. Other smaller parties that are supporting the NDA government have also favoured caste-based enumeration.

    “BJP had called for a caste census when it was in the Opposition. BJP in power is unaccountable and opposite to what its leaders had said on this. If people are not counted on economic status and caste, due representation and opportunities cannot not be guaranteed,” said SP spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari.

    The Left, NCP, DMK and others have also asked the Centre to carry out the caste census. “Caste census was last done in 1931 by Britishers. When there is no data (updated), how do you frame policies? BJP thinks it will lose the support it has and some political parties may try to use it and others may have their own reasons,” said CPI general secretary D Raja.

    The Congress is also backing the census with UP elections around the corner. “The UPA conducted an economic and caste census in 2011 but the BJP did not publish it after coming to power in 2014. It should be done for the benefit of people who have been at the receiving end,” said UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu. DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said the government has responded to the matter and it was raised even during discussion on the OBC Bill. 

  • SP will give due respect to dalits, backward sections that BJP failed to do: Akhilesh Yadav

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said his party will give due respect to dalits and other backward sections that the BJP failed to do.

    “Samajwadi Party’s (SP) allies will get justice, respect and participation. The party will give the respect to dalits and other backward sections that the BJP did not do,” he said while addressing ‘Jankranti Yatra’ of his party ally Janvadi Party Socialist here.

    “When it comes to giving respect to your ‘samaj’ (community), SP will never back track. We assure you that we will not do the injustice done to you earlier. SP will not hesitate to take forward your ‘samaj’,” Yadav added.

    Congratulating its ally for the successful completion of the Jankranti Yatra, he said, “The BJP will be wiped out from all districts of Uttar Pradesh where this yatra has passed. That is why we have given the slogan ‘Abki baar 400 paar’.

    Headed by Sanjay Singh Chauhan, the Janvadi Party Socialist has a strong hold among the Chauhan community, which has a considerable presence across eastern UP.

    The party had started its yatra from Ballia on August 16 with a vow to make Yadav the next chief minister of the state.

    Speaking about the rallies of his party allies, the SP president said the yatras of Mahan Dal and Janvadi Party Socialist have been completed, but senior party leader Indrajit Saroj has left with another ‘Janadesh Yatra’.

    Apart from this, SP’s state president Naresh Uttam Patel and a large number of party leaders are conducting ‘Kisan Naujawan Patel Yatra’.

    The former UP CM said Samajwadi Vyapar Sabha is holding its divisional conventions and that the yatras will continue until the BJP government is removed from UP.

    Yadav noted that through these yatras, his party aims to take the people along.

    “There is so much resentment among the people about the BJP government which cannot be imagined. People do not want to see this (BJP) dispensation for a single day,” he claimed.

    Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav also participated in the programme.

  • Owaisi slams both BJP and Congress, says AIMIM to contest on 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh

    By Express News Service

    PATNA: Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of AIMIM, went all out against both the Congress party and the BJP terming them addicted to musical chair of power.

    Speaking at a function of a news channel, Owaisi vehemently castigated the BJP for not conducting the national census on castes.”Why is BJP not conducting the caste census, if it has genuine concern for the OBCs? Both the BJP and the Congress Party are scared of upper castes, that’s why they not speaking openly in support of caste census”, Owaisi said, joining the chorus of opposition and NDA’s three allies in Bihar demanding the caste census.

    Sharing his party’s election plan, Owaisi said that the AIMIM is preparing to contest on 100 seats in the forthcoming UP assembly elections.

    He said that the Muslims in UP are in urgent need of political empowerment to create an independent leadership of the community.

    Lashing out at SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, Owaisi said that Akhilesh Yadav only talks of “MY”(muslim Yadav) equation but when he goes in governance it turns out to be only Yadav.  He also lambasted at Akhilesh Yadav for not speaking when 20 minority people lost their lives during the CAA protest .

    Owaisi flatly denied that the AIMIM has been acting like B-team of BJP and said that the BJP will try to use the Afghanistan-Taliban situation in the UP elections .

  • Former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur to float political party ahead of UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, former IPS officer Amitabh Thakur on Friday said he will float a new political party soon.

    “After consulting my supporters and well-wishers, I have decided to float a new political party,” Thakur said here.

    The proposed name of his new outfit is Adhikar Sena, he said and requested his supporters to suggest more names along with purpose, mission and structure of the party.

    The government had issued an order for Thakur’s premature retirement on March 23 this year, saying he was “not found fit to be retained for the remaining tenure of his service”.

    Earlier this month, Thakur’s wife Nutan Thakur had announced that he would be contesting the coming assembly elections against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

    “Adityanath took many undemocratic, improper, suppressive, harassing and discriminatory steps during his tenure as chief minister. Hence, Amitabh shall be contesting the election against Adityanath from wherever he contests,” she had said.

    An officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, he would have retired in 2028.

    In 2017, Thakur had urged the Centre to change his cadre state.

    The officer was suspended on July 13, 2015, days after he had accused Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav of threatening him.

    A vigilance enquiry was also initiated against him.

    However, the Lucknow Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal stayed his suspension in April 2016 and ordered his reinstatement with full salary with effect from October 11, 2015.

  • Samajwadi Party could win 400 seats in upcoming UP polls, claims Akhilesh Yadav

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav claimed that his party may win 400 of 403 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections given the angst and disappointment of the people of the state with the present dispensation.

    Addressing mediapersons before commencing his cycle yatra from his party office here on Thursday, the SP chief said the BJP was in such doldrums that it would face paucity of candidates to be fielded in the elections as nobody wanted to contest on a BJP ticket now. “So far now we have been claiming that we will win 350 plus seats in the 2022 Assembly polls in UP but now people are so upset with the ruling BJP that if the Samajwadi Party gets 400 seats, it should not come as a surprise,” said Yadav adding that the BJP had oppressed and harassed Brahmins, Dalits, and Muslims in the state during the last four years.

    Yadav reiterated his charge that the ruling BJP had not done anything of its own but had been taking credit for what his government had done during his previous regime.

    “Even today, the BJP leaders are inaugurating the work done during the SP government, they didn’t work at all. In fact, they do not have any work culture,” said Yadav.

    The SP chief vented his ire over the BJP for claiming that the state of Uttar Pradesh had taken big strides towards development and had become one of the top most states of the country during the last four years.

    He contradicted the claims of the ruling party by saying, “They have made the state number one in malnutrition, dead bodies on the banks of Ganga, taking off shrouds from dead bodies, unable to give oxygen to the people of the state and in rising unemployment in the state. The state has also become number one in beating youth who ask for employment, in crimes against women, in deaths in absence of proper medical treatment and also in non-compliance of the honourable courts.”

    The SP chief also launched a broadside on the BJP government over the COVID outbreak, saying they had shown utter failure in tackling the second wave of the pandemic. They failed to provide proper and timely medication and life saving oxygen to Covid victims. “This mismanagement took so many lives and people were left to the mercy of God,” he added.

    Commenting on the preparedness of the BJP for the upcoming Assembly polls, Akhilesh said they had not released their manifesto yet. “In fact, it is a party of ‘moneyfesto’  instead of ‘manifesto’. For them (BJP) politics is nothing but a business,” said the SP chief while taking a jibe at the ruling BJP.

    The Samajwadi Party kicked off a ‘Cycle Yatra’ across all districts of UP against price rise, farm laws and poor law and order.

    Party chief Yadav will paddle for six kilometres — from the Samajwadi Party headquarters to Janeshwar Mishra Park in the state capital.

  • Rift within NDA in Bihar? VIP chief Mukesh Sahni skips key legislature meet

    Express News Service
    PATNA: All is not well within the ruling NDA in Bihar. The cracks within the allies were evident on Monday when Mukesh Sahni, chief of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), boycotted the NDA legislature meeting chaired by state chief minister Nitish Kumar. The meeting was called to discuss strategies to corner the Opposition during the next four days of Monsoon Session.

    The NDA legislature meeting was convened after the House was adjourned. Mukesh Sahni and his MLAs did not attend the meeting despite being present in the assembly after adjournment.

    The boycott comes a day after Mukesh Sahni was not allowed to unveil the statues of late Samajwadi MP Phoolan Devi on July 25 observed as ‘Shahadat-Diwas’.

    Though, Sahni denied this, he slammed the Yogi government for denying him permission in Banaras. “The VIP has boycotted the NDA meeting just because our party is not heard. Why should we attend if only BJP and JDU are heard and talked about at every meeting,” he told the media, further ruling out the possibility of resigning from the NDA. 

    “The NDA government-led by Nitish Kumar will go on but there should be a platform where every ally gets a chance to sit and talk together on any issue,” the VIP chief said.

    He further stated that the time has come for him and HAM chief Jitan Ram Manjhi to sit together and think over these meetings, and announced that him and his party MLAs will continue skipping these unless he is heard.

    “But the NDA government will continue to its full term. Our alliance with the BJP is limited only to Bihar. We are free to contest in other states, including UP, either alone or in alliance with any other like-minded party,” he said categorically, further adding that his party is determined to contest on 165 seats in UP assembly elections.

    Meanwhile, sources said that the NDA in Bihar is falling into internecine differences over many issues. The BJP and the JDU are at loggerhead over the new pollution control policy and the caste based census issues with the HAM supporting the JD-U.

    Expressing his anger against UP BJP, Mukesh Sahni said that on one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims to be working for ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, but the same is not seen in Yogi government’s state. “When we went to UP to unveil the statues of Phoolan Devi, we were stopped. Only CM Yogi can tell us why he did not allow us. Yogi Adityanath is BJP’s face and we don’t expect him to act like this,” Sahni said.

    Bihar BJP Chief Dr Sanjay Jaiswal said that Mukesh Sahni is a part of NDA family and everything will be sorted out soon.

    Meanwhile, Mukesh Sahani has reportedly received an offer from Congress MLA Pratima Kumari to leave the NDA and join the Mahagathbandhan.

    Even Samajwadi Party MP (RS) from Uttar Pradesh Vishambhar Nishad has invited Mukesh Sahni to its fold and fight in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls.

  • BJP to field all senior leaders in 2022 UP poll 

    By Express News Service
    LUCKNOW:  A few hours before Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath touched down in Ayodhya on Sunday, the BJP’s first-time MLA from Ayodhya Ved Prakash Gupta said he would be the “happiest man” if the CM opted to contest from the same seat in 2022 Assembly polls.

    Gupta’s statement came amid reports that the BJP is planing to field all its senior leaders in the 2022 Assembly polls. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the party will actually field Adityanath from the Ayodhya seat. Recently, the BJP finished second to Samajwadi Party in the district panchayat members’ polls in Ayodhya.

    However, it managed to win the district panchayat chairperson’s polls in the same district. The present two-time BJP MP from Faizabad seat Lallu Singh had won the Ayodhya Assembly seat five times between 1991 and 2007, before SP’s Pawan alias Tej Narayan Pandey snatched the seat in 2012 polls.

    However, five years later, in 2017 polls, Ved Prakash Gupta wrested the seat for the saffron party by defeating Pandey (the ex-minister) by more than 50,000 votes. According to informed sources within the BJP in Lucknow, the party plans to field all its top leaders in the Vidhan Sabha polls this time.

    But, instead of Ayodhya, the CM could actually contest from one of the seats in his home district of Gorakhpur (as he has immense sway in that region of the state up to the Nepal border). 

    Among the other top state BJP leaders, Keshav Prasad Maurya could be fielded from Sirathu Kaushambi district and Dinesh Sharma from any seat of Lucknow. Senior cabinet minister Dr Mahendra Singh could also be fielded from his home district Pratapgarh, possibly from Kunda seat, which has been a virtual fiefdom of ex-UP minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh who has won the seat six times. 

  • Congress will emerge as king not kingmaker in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections: Gurjar

    Gurjar said the party would bank on the wisdom of elder leaders, and enthusiasm of the youth would be harnessed at the same time.

  • Don’t be afraid, work round the clock to win Assembly polls: Priyanka to Congress workers

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi exhorted the party workers on Saturday not to be “afraid” and said they should work round the clock to win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next year.

    “If the organisation is seen today, it is because of you. If the Congress has come into discussions, it is because of you,” Priyanka Gandhi, who has been holding meetings with the partymen since her arrival here on Friday, told Congress workers at the party headquarters here.

    The party workers should take pride that the organisation has its presence in all the panchayats of Uttar Pradesh and training programmes are being held in all districts, after which gram panchayat-level committees will be set up, she said.

    “I request you all that from today till the election, set the target of working 24 hours, do not stop or get afraid. You have to march ahead with strength and win the election,” the Congress general secretary said.

    She asked the party workers to stay connected with the issues of people, their struggles and emotions.

    “If you stay connected with these issues, include new people in the organisation and take the senior leaders along, only then can we fight this battle together,” the Congress leader said.

    She also told the party workers to be disciplined.

    “You have to win the election but do not forget that discipline is also essential for fighting,” she said.

    On the second day of her visit to Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi held meetings with former MPs, former MLAs, presidents of the frontal organisations of the Congress and the party’s block presidents from Rae Bareli and Amethi.

    She asked them to strengthen the organisation to the nyay panchayat level.

    The convenor of the media and communication department of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, Lalan Kumar, said Priyanka Gandhi will be in Lucknow on Sunday and meet party leaders and workers.

    Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, the Uttar Pradesh Congress criticised the state government over the issue of crime against women.

    “The BJP government has become synonymous with crime against women. The women of the state in the coming time will give a befitting reply to the anti-women government,” it said.

    State Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh hailed Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to the Samajwadi Party (SP) workers who were allegedly attacked by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists during the block panchayat chief elections.

    “Be it Hathras, Sonbhadra in the past or Lakhimpur Kheri in current times, she (Priyanka Gandhi) has been the first leader to meet the members of the families affected by tragedies,” Singh said.

  • Ahead of UP Assembly polls, crucial RSS meet in Chitrakoot from July 9

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Months ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s four-day Prant Pracharak meeting will take place in Chitrakoot from July 9, 2021.

    The crucial meeting of the Sangh, which is an annual event, is being considered significant in the wake of Assembly polls in the state.

    While Sangh has always distanced itself from elections, sources stated that few crucial decisions regarding who will coordinate with Bharatiya Janata Party on Sangh’s behalf, across the country, can be taken.

    “Till now Krishna Gopal ji use to coordinate between Sangh and the BJP. A senior Prachark gets this responsibility in Sangh. It can be assessed whether this responsibility should remain with Krishan Gopal or given to someone else. There are possibilities of others getting new responsibilities as well,” said a senior functionary.

    Sources stated that this charge of new responsibilities can be effective at the state as well as national level.

    While Sangh functionaries are calling it a routine meeting, many in the political circles are viewing it as crucial ahead of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

    A senior Sangh functionary when asked about the meet said there could be a reshuffling of responsibility but it’s still too early to confirm it.

    The four-day meet is likely to discuss the situation in Uttar Pradesh as the state heads into the 2022 Assembly polls. The meeting is also expected to discuss the roadmap for the year ahead.