After facing defeat in last Assembly elections and scoring blank in the Parliament elections, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which mostly remained away from political activities, finally came on road and staged demonstration across the state over plight of the farmers against the Centre and UP government.
The demonstration was held at all the district headquarters where senior party leaders lad the agitation on the directives of party president Ms Matawati, on Monday morning. The issues raised in the agitation include opposition to the amendment in the land Acquisition Act, mooted by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and miseries of the farmers leading to their deaths due to unseasonal rains in the State. The party leaders also raised the issue of bad law and order situation in UP.
In lucknow, the agitation was led by BSP national general secretary and leader of the Opposition in the legislative Council, Nasimuddin Siddique at the Jyotiba-Phule stadium in Chowk area. Addressing the gathering, Siddique lambasted the State government as well as the Centre for ignoring the farmers who suffered a lot in the recent rains.” It was merely a joke on part of the UP government that the farmers were given cheques of Rs 66 to Rs 250 for their loss even after the state government’s announcement that the minimum compensation would be Rs 1500,” he said. “ Kisan Mar Raha Hai Khet Me, PM-CM mast hai videsh me ( Farmers are dying in the fields,but PM-CM were enjoying in foreign tours),” he further alleged.
The former UP minister also alleged that over 300 farmers have died in the state after their crop loss and the state well as the Centre was not at all concerned. The BSP leader also targeted the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for amending the land Acquisition Act claiming that it was an anti-farmers move by the BJP. The leader also did not spare the State government over the law and order situation in the state.”The criminals are running a parallel government in the state and even now the police are being attacked by the anti-social elements given patronage by the Samajwadi Party government,” he said. The BSP leader also raised that how the dalits and other backward castes are being ignored by both the Centre as well as by the UP government.
Wearing blue (party colour) caps, they shouted slogans and blocked traffic in the busy areas of the state capital. “Since traffic was being affected and some ambulances were also caught up in the jam, we decided to cut short the dharna in the state capital as our aim has never been to cause inconvenience to people,” Siddique said. leader of the Oppostion in the State Assembly, Swami Prasad Maurya addressed a similar demonstration in Rae Bareli while BSP state president Ramachal Rajbhar in Ambedkar Nagar and Zonal Coordinator R K Choudhury in Mirzapur.
BSP is also set to hold a country wide agitation on the farmers issues except in UP on May 2. Meanwhile, a BSP release claimed that the protest was a big success in all the 75 districts of the state. BSP supremo Mayawati congratulated partymen and said this might force the NDA and UP governments to change their anti-farmers stance, the release said.