Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday reached out to the main support base of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SPs) in Uttar Pradesh, the so-called other backward classes (OBC), with its leader Narendra Modi promising to empower the exploited and weak sections by providing employment and other opportunities if his party is voted to power.
Modi was addressing his eighth public meeting in Uttar Pradesh and his first in Lucknow since being named in September as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the coming national election.
Uttar Pradesh is crucial for any party looking to form the government at the centre, with the state sending the most number of members (80) to the Lok Sabha.
Appealing to the local crowd, the Gujarat chief minister quoted the BJP’s first prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as saying the road to Delhi goes through Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh’s capital city.
Modi accused the Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress party of poor governance and divisive politics.
“The SP, BSP and Congress hide behind secularism because they want to hide their incompetence. When people ask these parties about employment, price rise, corruption, education and development, these parties say let’s first talk about secularism,” Modi told a public meeting. “The definition of secularism for these three political parties is vote-bank politics and divisive politics to win elections.”
The BJP is the only democratic party, he said, for having picked him, an OBC person, as its prime ministerial choice.
“People of the Dalit community and OBCs must remember that the coming decade is of the exploited and the weaker sections of the society. SP, BSP and Congress party are indulging in vote-bank politics and corruption. Uttar Pradesh has everything but Mulayam Singh Yadav has not been able to develop the state,” Modi said.
“I support the politics of development. I have been talking about it for the last 10 years. I always tell political leaders that they should also do politics of development and quit divisive politics,” he added.
The BSP, SP and the Congress party treated members of minority communities as vote banks and ensured they remained poor, Modi said.
Political analysts following Modi’s meetings believe the BJP has an advantage in the Lok Sabha election and that the party is now trying to attract floating voters who make their electoral decisions late. The election is due by May.
“It seems people of Uttar Pradesh have already made up their mind. The entire exercise of holding public meetings is only to consolidate its position in the state and to increase the gap with the rival political parties,” said A.K. Verma, a Kanpur-based political analyst.
Verma also said the fast-rising Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may not be as effective against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh as it was in the Delhi assembly election because the greenhorn party is still not clear about its economic policies.
“It’s the national election and people do not like to waste their vote. AAP may not be able to damage BJP in UP this election,” Verma said.
