With the Election Commission’s ban on all election rallies in force, senior leaders of mainstream political parties are now busy in door-to-door campaigning in most of the constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh. On Thursday, Home Minister Amit Shah visited Mathura, Dadra and Greater Noida and met voters during his door-to-door campaign.
Addressing a gathering of party workers and voters in Mathura, Amit Shah said, UP election results will decide the destiny of India in the coming years. Shah said, if BJP retained power in UP, the state will progress, but if Akhilesh Yadav and his allies win, “goonda-mafia raj” will return.
The BJP stalwart said, “while going to cast their votes, voters should remember the big achievements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These included building of Ram temple in Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor, removal of Article 370 status for Jammu and Kashmir, and the attacks carried out by our armed forces on terror camps inside Pakistani territory. Remember, if the progress of UP is stalled, India’s progress could also come to a halt. So whenever you decide to vote, please do keep Narendra Modi in mind”.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath was also on a door-to-door campaign in Bijnor. He told voters, “all of you are witness to how they (Samajwadi Party) brought darkness, and we (BJP) brought light in your lives. They brought goonda raj, we brought back rule of law”.
Yogi said, all the good work done during his rule, like distributing free rations, building of toilets, giving pension, giving homes to poor people, free medical treatment for poor, would not have been possible, had there been rampant corruption. He told voters not to oppose BJP only because of their grouse against local MLAs. “If there are problems with local MLAs, these will be resolved, but remember, you are going to elect a government and a Chief Minister”, Yogi said.
Another BJP stalwart Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was in Modinagar near Ghaziabad. Rajnath Singh said, “if you compare my rule with Yogi’s rule, I can definitely say that Yogi’s governance was far better. I myself was chief minister, but Yogi ji is far better than me.”
Law and order has now become a priority issue in UP elections. Yogi Adityanath used to speak about “goonda raj” during Akhilesh Yadav’s rule, but the SP supremo used to say that he has brought about a sea change in his party. Akhilesh claims that he would not allow criminals and mafia leaders to rule, because his party has acquired a new image. But his claims have proved to be hollow, after the SP candidates’ lists were out. People with criminal cases against them, like Nahid Hassan and several others, are not contesting elections on SP symbol.
There are several candidates against whom criminal cases were filed even before Yogi became chief minister. Both Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath are therefore focusing more on entry of criminals in Samajwadi Party and are trying to project it as the core election issue. It is now for the electorate to decide.