Lucknow: “No curfew, no danga (riot), UP mein sab changa (everything is fine in UP),” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced at the ground of Maharaj Singh Degree College in Saharanpur.
Kicking off the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the municipal elections Monday, the CM addressed three rallies in Saharanpur, Amroha and Shamli. Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) are not just engaging in war of words, but are also releasing songs to target each other ahead of the polls scheduled in May.
“Rangdaari na firauti, ab UP nahi hai kisi ki bapauti (No extortion, no ransom; UP now doesn’t have anyone’s patrimony),” the chief minister said, addressing the crowd.
Without naming slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, who along with his brother Ashraf were shot dead on 15 April, he said that mafia and criminals have now become a thing of the past.
“Mafia-apradhi ho gaye ateet, UP bana hai suraksha, khushhaali aur rozgaar ka prateek (Mafia-criminals are now a thing of the past. UP has now become a symbol of safety, prosperity and employment,” Yogi said.
The CM added that now, Uttar Pradesh is known for Kanwar Yatras and not curfew. He asserted that the state’s identity was of utsav (festival) and not updrava (lawlessness) — something that he mentioned on completion of six years of his government on 25 March.
In Saharanpur, Yogi spoke highly about the BJP’s mayoral candidate. “Our mayor candidate is a capable doctor who would give solutions to all the problems…He has been sent here because he will work on the ground. For the criminals and other goondas (criminals), our police is enough,” he said.
Addressing the crowd, Yogi asked the people to decide if they wanted a tamancha (country-made pistol), or tablets in the hands of their children. “Now, UP is not a state of mafia, but mahotsav (festivity). We have to decide if we want the terror of the derelicts, or will make it a safe city,” he asserted.
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Shamli address
In Shamli, the CM said, “The mafias and criminals who would threaten earlier….you would be seeing that today, there is nobody to shed two tears for them…sab gaayab (all have vanished).”
“Main isliye aage nahi bol raha hun….kahin ho na jaye kuch. (I am not speaking further, so that something may not happen,” he said. “Humne UP mein mafia ka dholak bajakar rasatal mein pahunchane ka kaam kiya.(We ensured the mafia of UP reach abyss).”
Talking about government job opportunities for youth, Yogi said the youth of Shamli are also included in the recruitments, unlike before 2017, when those from Shamli-Muzaffarnagar were deprived.
“Remember what the situation was six years ago. Kairana, Kandhla witnessed exodus, gundaraj (rule of goons), riots, a lack of basic facilities and traders would work at risk.”
The CM asked the people to ensure that they get the benefits of a triple-engine government — BJP administration at national, state and municipal level — and that the journey to development moves with the speed of a bullet train.
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War of songs
The political parties have taken to new ammunition to target each other ahead of the municipal elections, with the BJP and the SP are hitting each other with song videos.
Both the parties released a song each copying the rhythm of those launched by them last year’s assembly polls.
To target Akhilesh Yadav, the BJP picked a song by the SP released last year with title ‘Akhilesh aa rahe hain (Akhilesh is coming).’ In a spinoff, the BJP released a song titled ‘gunde pukaarte hain, Akhilesh aayiye (criminals are calling, Akhilesh come).’
In retaliation, the SP launched a song ‘Jo janata ko sataye hain, hum unko hatayenge (those troubling people will be removed by us)’ — a spinoff of the BJP’s song, ‘Jo Ram ko laye hain, hum unko laye hain. (Those who brought Ram, we have brought them).’
The BJP also released a song video having clips of Atiq Ahmed with the SP chief and other standalone pictures of Mukhtar Ansari while its lyrics blamed Akhilesh for insulting his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
‘Mukhtar-Atiq ka uddhar tumse tha, dangayi udaas hain… (Mukhtar-Atiq were savaged because of you…rioters are upset now),’ goes the song that encapsulates pictures of Gayatri Prajapati, a former SP minister who is in jail serving life sentence for gang rape, and men with revolvers.
‘Gaurav-Sachin ko marvaya, hinduon ka fir se palayan karvayiye…(got Gaurav-Sachin killed…resort to the exodus of Hindus again),’ it says.
The BJP video was referring to the killing of the two cousins who were allegedly lynched by a mob on August 27, 2013, that sparked the riots in Muzaffarnagar when Akhilesh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The SP retorted with a song titled: ‘Jo janata ko sataye hain, hum unko hatayenge,’ a spinoff of BJP’s old song. ‘Mehengayi ki saza di hai, ab mehengi dawa ki hai, Bhajpa ko hatayenge…mehengayi bhagayenge (You gave the punishment of inflation….now, medicines are costlier….We will remove the BJP…We will remove inflation),’ the song goes.
The song targets the BJP for ‘dikhave ka chola jinka nafrat ki baat karen (they wear the robe of pretense but talk about hatred’. It further mentions unemployment, traders’ suffering harassment and targets the BJP for atrocities on Dalits, backwards and minorities. ‘Hain aarakshan ke virodhi, andar se bheetar ghaat karen….(they are anti-reservation, backstab the people),’ the song goes.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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