In fact, BJP is being propped up by none other than Mulayam
Amaresh Misra
Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh is passing through an unprecedented phase. The State is suffering from the after effects of twin failures: first of the Modi Govt in Delhi; and second, of the Akhilesh Government in Lucknow.
Since 2014 Muzaffarnagar riots, RSS has made UP its favourite hunting ground. From May 2014 onwards, after Modi Government came to power, UP has seen more than 150 recorded/unrecorded incidents of communal violence. However, this kind of violence increased dramatically after the completion of one year of Modi rule, when the magic weaved by the PM began fading out under the glare of multiple corruption scandals, lack of growth, unprecedented rise in unemployment, inflation and dismal level of investments in the economy.
It is noteworthy, that while between May 2014 to May 2015, UP witnessed 70-80 incidents of communal violence, there was a remarkable jump from June 2015 onwards; since June-July this year, and till 15th October, 2015, UP underwent 65-70 incidents of communal flare-ups!
These figures reveal that 4 months after Modi's first year in power, as the failures of Central Government began grabbing headlines, the State has had to bear an almost 100% jump in small and big 'instigated fights' among the two dominant communities in UP!
The RSS hand is visible in almost all instances-but the Samajwadi Party Government is also not too far behind.
In Dadri, the SP Government failed to net the big fish, the BJP Union Ministers involved in the affair. Mulayam also could not reveal the three names he said were behind communal riots in UP; the Akhilesh Government failed miserably in making a political issue out of the lynching of a UP Muslim by RSS forces in Himachal Pradesh.
In each and every major communal incident, the hand of Akhilesh Government can be seen as well; for example, in the Kannauj violence that took place on 23rd October, 2015, the Police deliberately allowed Dusshera procession through Muslim areas and Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) officers were involved in spreading communal rumours.
One major reason behind UP's volatile communal situation has nothing to do with communalism, but everything to do with economics and governance,
With stagnant growth (almost half of the national average), UP's economy is showing alarming signs; seen in the phenomenon of 2,5 Lakh graduates, post-graduates, even PHD scholars and Mtech and Btech degree holders applying for paltry 300 jobs of peons (among an 'army' of 25 Lakh applicants) , unemployment is touching record heights (estimated to reach 1 crore by 2017).
Capital is neither being formed within nor any investment seems to be coming from outside the State; entrepreneurship is wilting due to lack of State support and deliberate negligence/nepotism/cronyism by the ruling dispensation. The famous locks of Aligarh, scissors of Meerut, peetal utensils of Moradabad, chikankari of Lucknow, bangles and glass wares of Firozabad-Agra, saris of Benaras, carpets of Bhadohi, toys of Mirzapur-and several other small scale industries in nearly all UP districts that once upon a time were UP's pride and generated huge employment-are dying a slow death.
Relegated to being mere show-piece objects, cultural activities are not being encouraged; writers, authors, senior and committed journalists of Hindi and Urdu face emasculation; the SP Government has gone back on its promise of promoting Hindi and Urdu and has thus betrayed the pro-Hindi/Urdu legacy of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia and veteran SP leaders like Janeshwar Mishra.
In a State where intellectuals are literally starving, and the State has stopped sponsoring intellectual activities and research, Rs. 50,000 pension is being offered to billionaire celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, turning the whole exercise into a joke, with Amitabh 'refusing the amount!'
The casual, insensitive approach of the Akhilesh Government has seen Lakhs of people getting thrown out of jobs due to flaws in appointment, e.g. 'Shikshamitras'; as of now more than half a million vacancies exist in jobs. But the State apparatus is just sitting without moving a leg!
Here, in UP, the High Court has made observations that "teachers close to the current establishment are appointing principals!"
The High Court also cancelled the controversial appointment of the UPSC chief!
The Supreme Court also was forced to make the observation that if there is a CBI enquiry against an officer, why is the Government so upset about it?
Now it has transpired that the family of Mulayam Singh Yadav holds shares in the company of that officer!
This is just the tip of the iceberg: incidents of gang-rape of women, suicide of youths and farmers, killing of innocents by Police, has become routine...
On top of it all, cotton, textile, sugar mills, and factories, in the Public sector, have been shut down or sold for a pittance to private capital through commission makers by the present Government!
Sugarcane farmers have not been paid their dues while the Government is openly siding with sugar mill owners...
As per the met department, UP is going through an undeclared drought but the underhand pact between Modi and Akhilesh Government prevents any administrative relief from being announced...even a formal declaration of a drought like situation has not been made...
The Government has virtually stopped buying 'dhaan', the rice crop, from peasants; this after rabi crops were destroyed by hailstorm and other factors...even if dhaan is purchased, payment is being delayed...
On the other hand, the current Government is spending a lot on advertisements; investor enclaves taking place from Lucknow to Mumbai, with no tangible result...
Politically, a culture of lumpen vanity, gratuitous cruelty, that has resulted in burning of journalists and kidnapping of professionals-actually the despotic rule of a family-clan operating like a gang-has taken over the corridors of power (and pelf) in Lucknow, the State's capital...
In Delhi Modi says 'don't listen to me; listen to what the President says', thus undermining the dignity, power and seriousness of his own office, creating anarchy in the process!
In Lucknow, Mulayam Singh Yadav acts like an extra-constitutional authority, the chief despot; the former CM routinely humiliates bureaucrats, Ministers, even his Chief Minister son, openly, with cuss words and abuses, violating the basic value of vital institutions!
Among opposition forces, while Mayawati is dormant, Congress is not in the picture; deprived of even a State level capable leader, BJP is fast losing sheen and appeal even among its traditional base...
In fact, BJP is being propped up by none other than Mulayam who in the absence of any genuine progress, even to the level of what Nitish Kumar has achieved in Bihar, thinks of the 'communal card' as the only viable one that will benefit him through polarisation; never mind if it helps the BJP as well; wooly-eyed liberals are often unable to see that Mulayam actually prefers the BJP to other formations when the question of 'who-should-come-to-power-in-2017-assembly- elections-if-the-SP-loses' comes to the fore!
Apart from failing as a CM, Akhilesh Yadav has also lost his glamour and appeal among the youth...instances of his frivolous approach has turned him into a butt of jokes...
In such a scenario, pro-people forces, including bureaucrats against corruption, entrepreneurs, ex-MPs, veteran journalists, peasant leaders, script writers, artistes, progressive leaders of various caste formations and social forces, and even some sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, are coming together to launch a save UP campaign from 28th October, 2015...
On this date, thousands of youths of all castes and communities will take an oath at Ganga Memorial Hall, Ameenabad, Lucknow, to rid UP from corruption, the vain stranglehold of a single family, and communal frenzy...
These disparate forces, ranging from Gandhians to Ambedkarites to Lohiaites to leftists, plus a huge floating section, have been brought under one umbrella by Akhilendra Pratap Singh, the ex-President of Allahabad University, and the current convenor of Left Wing All India Peoples Front (AIPF).
Akhilendra Pratap Singh holds the enviable record of fighting against goondaism, communalism, in favour of democratic rights of Students, youths, respectable citizens, professionals, writers, Dalits, women, oppressed identities and minorities, and the condition of the peasantry, in UP. Whether in Allahabad University during his student movement days, or later as a leader who undertook several fasts to protest against State atrocities, Akhilendra Pratap Singh has inspired a generation of youths and activists.
The 28th October meet is expected to take up the following issues:
•The instant appointment of 2 lakh teachers and filling of 5 lakh vacancies in jobs as per the direction of the High Court. Unemployed youths should be given an allowance. Minimum, respectable wages to contract labourers and Aanganwadi workers; increase in budget allocation to employment generation, education, health and other peoples welfare sectors; encouragement to weavers and handicrafts through concrete Government economic help.
•Declaration of UP as a drought zone; all debts of peasants need to be cancelled and all types of extraction from the peasantry must stop. Peasants should be compensated for loss of crops, animals and houses. The process of purchase of crops from peasants and payment should start and given a concrete structure. Sugarcane farmers need to be paid with immediate effect; rabi crops of peasants destroyed in natural calamities need to be compensated; land should be distributed to Adivasis and forest dwellers as per the Forest Act.
•27% OBC reservations; here, the meet will demand that all backward castes should get their share as per their population. As per Clause 341 of the Indian Constitution, Dalit Muslims and Christians should be given SC status.
•Adequate reservations to deprived sections in the private sector as well.
•Security, dignity and participation of women in all affairs.
Amaresh Misra works as Editor, News786

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