New Delhi: A day after SP-RLD’s show of unity in western Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, the ruling BJP has said the companionship of Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary “won’t last beyond counting day on March 10”.
Rakes up muzaffarnagar
People of Muzaffarnagar have not forgotten the 2013 riots when the then govt converted victims into perpetrators and vice versa. — Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
PM invites inputs on his virtual UP rally
- PM Modi has invited public inputs for his first virtual rally in UP to be held on January 31
- The strength of democracy lies in public participation and trust, the PM says
- He urges people to send their inputs and suggestions on Namo mobile app
- The rally will cover 5 districts going to the polls in the first phase on February 10
Questioning the credibility of the alliance that has emerged as BJP’s principal challenger in UP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday once again raked up the “spectre of lawlessness under the erstwhile SP regime”, saying the people of Muzaffarnagar had not forgotten the 2013 riots when the then government converted “victims into perpetrators and vice versa”.
Addressing voters in Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, Shah said Akhilesh repeatedly flaunted his friendship with Jayant, but the question was how long would this alliance last?
“This alliance will only last until the counting day. If they lose elections, they will naturally part ways. Even if they win by mistake, Azam Khan and Ateeq Ahmed will occupy the space next to Akhilesh and Jayant bhai will be out. The people of western UP have sensed the nature of things to come by merely looking at the SP-RLD candidate list,” he said.
The BJP has been accusing the SP-RLD combine of fielding Muslims candidates with criminal record. The saffron narrative is to hammer the issue of law and order in UP.
Shah challenged Akhilesh to debate UP’s crime statistics during the 2012-17 and the present Yogi Adityanath-led dispensation.
“Incidents of dacoity have fallen by 70 per cent, loot by 69 per cent, murder and rape by 30 per cent and kidnapping by 35 per cent,” he said, stressing BJP’s “improved law and order” campaign plank vis-à-vis “SP’s proximity to history-sheeters.”
The BJP is facing an uphill task in wooing Jats, the predominant farming community of western UP, which is upset over deaths during the farm agitation against agricultural laws and has begun retracing its loyalties to the RLD, a primarily Jat-based party. Electorally substantive Muslims too are rallying behind the SP-RLD queering the pitch for the BJP which is seeking to reignite the memories of 2013 riots which had polarised Jats and Muslims to saffron advantage in this region.