Kicking off campaign for Rs lakshya 2014’ Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav claimed that he sees threat of polarisation of votes in the State. He said that chances of a third front government in the Centre in very bright but in case they failed to do so, his Party will go for support to the Group which will work for the welfare of the poor, farmers and Muslims.
"Tomorrow there is a meeting of an anti-communal forces in Delhi in which left Parties, JD (U) and SP will participate. It should be treated as the formal platform of the third front. Even if third front is not formed then too SP will not compromise on its ideology, "he announced here at the ITI ground while addressing the ' Desh Bachao, Desh Banao' rally in the presence of other senior leaders of the party including chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday afternoon.
Attacking BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, SP chief in his hour long speech claimed that Narendra Modi is only seen in Gujarat or in media but after Azamgarh’s rally, SP has given a new dimension to the political activity. Appealing the people to support the party just like they did during the last assembly elections, Yadav senior said if SP comes to power at the Centre then inflation would be at its minimum while Bhumi Sena would be constituted to increase the agriculture land bank of the country.
He also clarified that the present SP government has never made any biased decision on the bases of caste or community as circulated by the Opposition parties. "We only want to uplift the weaker section of the society which includes Muslims and the Backwards," he said. Expressing his concern over Centre's apathetic towards giving 17 backward caste to schedule caste category, he asked the UP government to re-introduce the Government Order(GO) which was scrapped by the previous Mayawati government giving all facilities to these 17 backward castes by his government in 2006.
The SP supremo also criticised the Congress led government at the Centre with claiming that except for scams they have done nothing.' Congress has made the Prime Minister weak and if a PM is weak then how can a country be strong', he questioned. He also claimed that compensation for the martyr in the international borders and return of their bodies have been started by him when he was the Defence minister.
Chief minister and State SP president Akhilesh Yadav in his brief address said that only SP can control the inflation of the country through its economic policies. Asking the people to support 'netaji', he said some communal parties are trying to polarise the voters but it will not happen as people of the state believe in secularism. 'The policies of the UP government is being adopted by other States now and the party has created a sort of record by implementing all its promises made during the Assembly elections', he claimed.
Mahrastra SP president Abu Asim Azmi said that UP government has concern for the Muslims and thus they have provided Rs 10 lakhs as compensation plus a government job to the family of the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots. He said that SP never ignored the muslims and always cared for them even when party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav was criticised by Opposition political parties for his love for the Muslims.
SP leader and Rajya Sabha member Kironmoy Nanda also spoke on the occasion asking people to support the SP in the lok Sabha elections. Almost all the UP ministers and senior leaders were presentin the rally which also a showcased the party's strength in comparison to the Narendra Modi's two public meetings at Kanpur and Jhansi early this month. The rally also coincide to the end of the first phase of '17 backward community Adhikar Rathyatra'and 'Samajik Nyay Rathyatra' to demand for social justice and converting 17backward castes to Schedule caste category, launched from lucknowon October 24 last. SP had announced to organise 18 such rallies in the state with the last one at lucknow on December 14. The two rath yatras will also end on December 7, after covering the entire state. Azamgarh, is a strong hold of the SP as they had won 9 of the10 assembly seats in the district during the last assembly elections though BJP's Ramkant Yadav is the sitting lok Sabha member. The area has a sizeable number of Yadav and muslim population, the core voters of the party. Party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary said that now they will hold similar rallies in Bareilly (November 9), Jhansi (Nov-23), and Allahabad (Nov-30)also.