To mark the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Singh on Monday promised to implement a ‘Sarvodaya Yojna’ if people voted the party to power in the upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Since last week, Mr. Singh has been sharing features of the party’s election manifesto that will be formally released on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31.
Continuing with his bid to reach all sections of society, Mr. Singh at public meetings in Muzaffarnagar and Amroha said the party’s election manifesto will guarantee protection to the minorities like all sections of society. “These days those who chose to stay in India after 1947 are being asked to prove their nationality,” he remarked.
Mr. Singh said a scholarship scheme would be launched for the students of the SC/ST and the OBC communities who get admission in top 500 universities of the world and promised an encouragement sum of ₹1 lakh for those seeking inter-caste marriage.
“We will also bring an entrepreneur fund of ₹2,500 crore for SC/ST and physically handicapped youth with business aptitude to reduce economic disparity,” he said.
He assured financial powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions as envisaged in the 73rd Amendment of the Constitution and promised to establish a fund of ₹2,500 crore for agriculture start-ups.
‘Vote to seek revenge’
Addressing the farmers, Mr. Singh, who plans to participate in the last rites of the deceased in the Lakhimpur violence, said nobody thought that “a government chosen by you would not only ignore you but will also target you”. “This government would try to make you forget the Lakhimpur violence but you have to remember the names who lost their lives,” he said.
Referring to the local leadership, he added, “And ask those who have gone into hiding where were they when the farmers were being mowed down. Seek revenge through your vote,” he said, describing his party as a fauj (army) of farmers that will work for their betterment.
Mixing the personal with the political, Mr. Singh said COVID-19 left a trail of sorrow in families across the region. “I lost my father, you lost a leader. But at that time, a section of people was having fun. According to an international magazine, the income of some corporates doubled.”
Taking on the BJP government at the Centre and the State, Mr. Singh said, “One is remote-controlled by the corporates, the other is out of control.”
In the season of appropriating icons, Mr. Singh is also not limiting himself to the legacy of his grandfather Chaudhary Charan Singh. Last week, he invoked BSP founder Kanshi Ram and promised to introduce a scheme in his name for the urban workers. Mr. Singh reminded how both Narayan and Charan Singh were followers of Mahatma Gandhi. It is significant because Charan Singh’s supporters often held the anti-Emergency crusader responsible for ‘decommunalising’ Jan Sangh members and picking Morarji Desai over Charan Singh as the first non-Congress Prime Minister.
