In her first rally in poll-bound Punjab, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Monday promised creating ‘rozi-roti de sadhan’ (means of livelihood) and curbing the drug menace in the State, if voted to power in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Stating that demonic unemployment and menace of drugs were the two outstanding problems of Punjab, BSP supremo alleged that the ruling SAD-BJP and Opposition Congress were “equally” responsible for the persisting issues.
Kick-starting BSP’s poll campaign in Punjab with a rally in Phagwara, Uttar Pradesh’s former Chief Minister claimed that her party was quite serious and concerned over these twin problems.
“Right now, whole of Punjab is inundated in alcohol and drugs and SAD-BJP Government is responsible for that…My party, if voted to power, would bring all drug addicts out of the menace, root out the illegal business and put the culprits in jail,” she said.
“For tackling unemployment, we will create rozi-roti de sadhan (means of livelihood) by creating jobs in public and private sectors,” Mayawati said.
Taking to task various parties for “trapping electorates” by doling out pre-poll sops in their manifesto, she warned voters not to be taken for a ride by these tall promises as she claimed that “all manifestoes will be put in cold storage after the polls”.
She asked voters to shun ‘parlobhans’ (temptations), adding that they should neither trust artificially whipped up ‘hawa’ (wave) by media for these parties nor sell their votes to them. “For panacea of ills afflicting Punjab, vote BSP to power,” she asserted.
BSP is trying hard to gain ground in the poll-bound State, especially in the Doaba and Majha regions, which have a sizable population of the Scheduled Castes or Backward Castes.
Commenting on the ticket distribution by BSP for the upcoming State polls, Mayawati said that the party had selected candidates with missionary spirit, who were ‘miari-damdari’ (credible and strong) and committed to party ideology.
The candidate selection was also done after doing ‘social engineering’ by giving tickets to other castes and communities, she emphasized.
In 2012 Assembly elections, BSP did not win any seats, however, did manage to marginally increase its voting percentage from 4.13 to 4.28. The party has good vote share in several pockets and holds the balance.
Interestingly, for Punjab Assembly elections 2017, BSP has overlooked its 10 out of 12 candidates who secured highest votes among all the party nominees in 2012 Assembly elections. Out of these 12, five have joined other parties, two are not contesting and only two have been repeated. Notably, 11 out of those 12 seats important for BSP were in Doaba.
Calling for replacing SAD-BJP Government with BSP Government, she asked voters to punish Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “ill-conceived” ‘notebandi’ and the support given to it by SAD, the ally of Modi Government.
“BJP, in 2014, promised a lot of things…They said that they will bring back black money from Swiss Banks in 100 days…Instead they banned notes which caused problems for poor people across the nation,” she said.
“BJP, their favourites and capitalists had turned their crores of rupees into white money before demonetisation, while 90 per cent farmers, labourers, poor and middle class were left high and dry,” she alleged.
