Even when the Samajwadi Party is holding parleys with the Congress for the proposed anti-Bharatiya Janata Party ‘secular’ mahagathbandhan for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it has decided to stay away from the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called by the grand old party against rising diesel and petrol prices on Monday.
The SP leadership has, however, directed the party leaders in districts to stage dharnas at district and tehsil levels on Monday against inflation and other issues to draw the attention of the people against the anti-people policies of the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, the SP had announced to hold a meeting of the office-bearers of its district units in the state capital on Monday. The meeting has been postponed.
SP state president Naresh Uttam, in a circular sent to all districts units on Sunday, said that party president Akhilesh Yadav had postponed the district office-bearers’ meeting on Monday and directed them to organise demonstrations in their respective areas to highlight the failures of the government to contain inflation, improve law and order, and redress grievances of students, teachers and farmers, and raise other people-related issues.
The circular makes no mention of the party’s support to the Congress call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Monday.
Earlier in the day, SP president Akhilesh Yadav addressed the party cadres. He said that the Bharatiya Janata Part seemed to be determined to undermine the dignity of democratic institutions of the country.
He charged that the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh lacked vision for development and they had reverted to their most preferred politics of creating divisions in society with the ultimate aim of creating communal polarisation for their narrow political ends.
The SP president also raised the demand for the caste-based census to ensure the share of each caste in the institutions of the state and power structure of the country.