Ruling out any truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday gave his battle cry against the Mayawati regime.
"Let us take a vow to overthrow the BSP from Uttar Pradesh" he declared at a public rally in this remote village of UP's remotest Mirzapur district, bordering Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. This was Rahul's maiden foray in this area, widely known for the increasing presence of Maoist groups. Yet his rally witnessed huge turnout from different corners of the district with the crowds braving the scorching 44 degree heat.
Gandhi made it a point to dispel doubts created on account of the BSP's sudden support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government during the cut motion in Parliament."Neither did the Congress party have any kind of understanding with the BSP, nor was there any question of any pact between the Congres and the BSP," he asserted
The crowds loudly applauded Rahul when he said,"I can see that the youth in Uttar Pradesh was looking for a positive change and I am confident that the strength of the youth alone would bring about that change to revive the lost old glory of this state."
In an obvious bid to focus on the significance of Uttar Pradesh as the country's most populous state, Rahul sought to add, "remember if you can change UP, then you can rest assured that you have the capability to change the entire country." He went further saying, "after all it is the 18 crore people of this state who contributes significantly to the development of other states including Delhi and Maharashtra, even though they were ill-treated by certain sections."
Enthused by responsive crowds, Rahul got down to impressing upon them the need for the Congress party's revival in the state. "You have seen different shades of politics in this state over the past two decades since the Congress has been out of power here--there was Samajwadi Party which played the politics of caste , followed by the Bhartiya Janata Party which thrived for sometime in the name of religion and now it was BSP which managed to ride on to power by playing the dalit card" he pointed out.
Training his guns at Mayawati, Rahul accused her of indulging in much "lip service without doing anything concrete for the upliftment and growth of the downtrodden dalits." Embarking upon the recently detected bungling of NREGS funds in UP, he said, "poor dalits living in remote villages of the state are toally unaware of many welfare schemes funded for them by the centre, which clearly shows that the government was pilfering such funds."
The Gandhi scion said, "The Congress was the only party which believes in taking together all castes and creed without any kind of discrimination." And promising to lend them a supporting hand , he went on to add, "I am with you and will remain with you to fight this battle together so that we could ensure complete transformation of this state for ever."
