Dr Shakti Kumar Pandey from Lucknow
The regional caste-based parties of Uttar Pradesh, which are known for harassment and persecution of those castes which were not aligned with them, have now started alluring Brahmins by holding their sammelans and making false promises to them. And all this just for the sake of ensuring their votes in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
It may be true that in the 2007 Assembly polls the Brahmins had got swayed by the false promises of Mayawati, and voted her to power, in anticipation of containing the criminals and controlling the corruption that was let loose in the State during the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government. But the experience was too bad not only for Brahmins but also for the common public for that matter. The Mafiosi were ruling the roost and the corruption during BSP regime was at its highest point, to the extent that some or other minister of Mayawati was going to jail by each passing day.
However, as the BSP had proclaimed that its success in Assembly polls was due to the support of Brahmins, this time round the Samajwadi Party does not want to be lagging behind. And Mulla Mulayam’s party too is holding Brahmin sammelans. Anyway, the Brahmins have already smelt the rat and this time round they are perfectly cautious. They know that such political parties, as have no value-based approach, can never benefit the society or any of its castes.
Reacting to the Brahmin conventions held by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Parashuram, the BJP said both parties were using gimmicks to get political benefits by trying to divide the community on caste lines, instead of working for development.
Talking to reporters at State BJP headquarters, senior party leader and Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon said there was an “unprecedented” power crisis in the State and even the State capital is witnessing undeclared power cuts, but the successive governments led by the SP and the BSP have ignored the issues related to public and indulged in gimmickry.
Targeting the previous BSP government and present SP government, Shri Tandon said, that not even Rs 5 have been used for the development of the State during the five-years of BSP rule and only stones were layed down in Lucknow.
“Similar has been the situation in more than one year of the SP rule and no investment has come to the State. It is not sufficient to distribute laptops alone. More than 90 per cent of non-technical graduates are jobless in the State. The government is not even worried about generating jobs, providing electricity and generating the resources of water,” Shri Tandon said.
Senior BJP leader Shri Kalraj Mishra alleged that the ruling SP is promoting terrorism by trying to withdraw cases against ultras in UP. Mishra criticised Minority Welfare Minister Azam Khan for his comment on the judiciary for rejecting the plea of the government by withdrawing cases against HuJI ultras Tariq Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid. The duo were arrested for triggering serial blasts in civil courts in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi in 2007. It maybe mentioned that the Barabanki district court rejected the State government’s proposal to release the terrorists by withdrawing the cases against them. The court was of the view that the cases should not be withdrawn. The accused will automatically be released if the charges against them are not proved in the court.
Referring to Khan’s comment on the Barabanki court that the court’s mindset was similar to people who demolished the disputed structure, Kalraj Mishra said : “Making such comments on the judiciary is a pointer to UP government’s functioning and effort to appease Muslims for the vote-bank politics,” he said. The senior BJP leader also criticised the SP government over rise in crime in UP and its apathetic stand towards the development.
