He started his tour after paying obeisance at Rudrapur Temple in Deoria. After that he went to Ayodhya; Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 and after that no member of the Gandhi-Nehru family had been to Ayodhya. Rahul went there and paid offerings at Hanumangarhi. Rahul’s footprint at Hanumangarhi, which is just a km away from the Ram temple, became big news. After that Rahul went to Kichaucha Sharif Dargah at Ambedkar Nagar, after which Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan targeted him.
Rahul took two days’ leave on Bakra-eid. After the festival, as per the plans of the Congress, he went for darshan of Maa Vindhyavasini. He also went to the dargah of Ismail Chisti. The leaders who are attached with his yatra say Rahul will go all pilgrimage sites on his way to Delhi. This must be noted that maximum number of Hindu pilgrimage sites are in Uttar Pradesh. This is clearly an attempt to enhance his image and that of his party.
IN KEEPING WITH TRADITION
History is repeating itself in Uttar Pradesh. CM Akhilesh Yadav has started removing its ministers from the Cabinet. He has removed two ministers on corruption charges right when Assembly Elections are coming up. Gayatri Prajapati and Rajkishor Singh have been removed from the Government. There is speculation that the Chief Minister will sack three more ministers. The Congress and BSP have called it a political drama and have pointed out that many ministers, who are facing corruption charges, are still in the Cabinet.
However, this tradition is very old in UP. Almost all CMs sack their ministers just before elections only to enhance their image. Mayawati had removed almost a dozen ministers at the end of 2012 and beginning of 2013. She used to remove her ministers on the complaints of lokayuktas. She started all this as early as in 2010.
Thereafter started the tradition of removal of ministers in the run-up to polls. At the end of 2011, Mayawati removed four ministers at a time. She sacked Fateh Bahadur Singh, Anees Ahmed Khan, Sajil Islam Ansari, and Sadal Prasad. On the recommendation of lokayukta, she sacked Rangnath Mishra and Badshah Singh. Just before 2012 Assembly Elections, she sacked Dadan Mishra. But removal of so many ministers was of no use.
Rajnath Singh had also sacked some of his ministers just before 2002 Assembly Elections. He had even removed Naresh Aggrawal. At that time, Aggrawal was the leader of loktantrik Congress Party and was supporting the Government.
JDU’S DOUBlE STANDARD
In Bihar, the party of Nitish Kumar, who is the captain of the alliance Government, is behaving in a strange way. The party is exhibiting double standard on former MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, who has just been released from jail. Almost all big leaders are trying not to launch direct attacks on Shahabuddin. When two senior leaders of the JDU, lalan Singh and Vijendra Yadav, addressed the media, they attacked the RJD vice-president Raghuvansh Singh. They made reference to his statement on Nitish and asked lalu Prasad Yadav to rein in his leaders.
In fact, the controversy had been started by Shahabuddin. When he came out of jail, he said lalu was his leader and Nitish became CM due to the situation at that time. Raghuvansh took that statement forward and in a way supported it.
Now, the JDU is targeting people who are supporting that statement and is keeping mum on who has given the statement. When one of the MlAs of the JDU, Giridhari Yadav, went to meet Shahabuddin, the party sent him a notice. But when JDU leaders are asked about Shahabuddin, they completely ignore him.
It seems that the party is doing all this keeping in mind Muslims votes. Instead of Shahabuddin, Raghuvansh is being targeted. Some days ago, JDU spokespersons went to the extent of saying that no one takes Raghuvansh seriously.
PRO-POOR AGENDA OF BJP
The BJP is serious about the allegations of Rahul Gandhi on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul says the Modi Government is only a “suit boot” one, and is working only for capitalists not for the poor. Now, to counter his allegations, the BJP is trying to reiterate that the Modi Government is indeed working for the welfare of people.
Modi and Amit Shah, the National President of the BJP, say at all rallies and public addresses that the Government is committed to the welfare of the poor. Apart from this, the schemes of the Modi Government are also mentioned by them. The party has given instructions to all State Governments to continue the welfare schemes which have been started by the Central Government and implement them effectively.
To prepare a strategy for this, a meeting of the Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States was called. Along with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Devendra Fadnavis, and Jharkhand’s CM Raghubar Das were present in the meeting. It is said that in that meeting, an outline was drawn for the effective implementation of Central schemes. CMs of BJP-ruled States are working on the schemes to make maximum inroads amongst the poor, Dalits, and tribals.
All MPs have also been instructed by the PM to promote the Central schemes and ensure their implementation. Modi is said to be monitoring the situation himself.
THE lEFT’S lEANINGS
The results of JNUSU polls are currently under scrutiny in many quarters. One analysis doing the rounds on social media claims that the left is pro-Brahmins, pro-Forward, and anti-Dalits as well as anti-tribal. This must be noted that after the suicide of Rohit Vemula, JNU was also the centre of agitation, and left organisations had taken command of this agitation. But in less than a year, left organisations have become anti-Dalits and anti-tribal.
This time, the election of JNUSU was fought on two poles: One was the left and the other was BAPSA ie Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association. Though three organisations of the left ie SFI, AISA and AISF had formed a joint front to counter the ABVP, but later it turned into the left vs BAPSA. The left had fielded four candidates for the central panel; three of them were Brahmins and one was Muslim. On the other hand, BAPSA had put all Dalit and tribal candidates.
That is why the think-tanks of the BJP and RSS are rejecting this thought that ABVP has been finished in JNU. To emphasise this viewpoint, the left front took out the funeral procession of ABVP at Ganga Dhaba. But the think-tanks of the left are cleverly hiding this fact that they have not defeated ABVP but BAPSA. This time the ‘red’ has defeated the ‘blue’. If this fact is publicised, the left will look like a bigger loser in mainstream politics.
WHERE IS SHEIlA DIKSHITIJ
Although Sheila Dikshit had been made the CM candidate by the Congress, some say the party is rethinking her name. After the announcement of her name, Sheila has fallen ill thrice. This time, she is leading a political yatra of the party but there is no hustle bustle in the State politics on that.
Rahul Gandhi is on a Kisan Yatra and party General Secretary, Ghulam Nabi Azad, is accompanying him. RPN Singh is looking after the media. Many hoardings and banners are being seen on the route of Rahul’s yatra, but interestingly Sheila’s picture is nowhere to be seen. Though there is no photograph of State president Raj Babbar either. Mainly, Sonia and Rahul’s pictures are there and Azad is being seen along with them, which is only to give a message to the Muslim voters.
That is the reason why people are saying that the Congress might change its CM candidate before elections. Though some of the leaders are saying that there is a big advantage in going with Sheila; no party or leader is taking her as a challenge. If the name of Jitin Prasada had been announced, there would have been revolt within the party and chances of alliance with another party would have gone down. Since the Congress is not seeing any chance to form the Government on its own, Sheila’s name was the most suitable one.