AGRA: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary on Monday ruled out an alliance with the Congress ahead of next year’s assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, but added that “talks were on with the Samajwadi Party (SP)” for a possible electoral tie-up.
The RLD chief, who was in Hathras to address a farmers’ rally in Sadabad, a Jat belt in the district, paid tribute to farmers who died in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. He appealed to people to "snatch power from the guilty through votes" and called it the “best possible revenge for the atrocities on farmers”.
Chaudhary added that the BJP was indulging in “caste politics”. Referring to the UP government’s decision to set up a state university in the name of Jat king Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, he said, “Did they ever visit the Prem Mahavidyalaya in Mathura which is in a dilapidated state?” The ruler had given up his own residence in Mathura in 1909 so that Prem Mahavidyalaya, touted as the country's first polytechnic, could come up on the land.
The RLD leader alleged that 8,300 people were booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since the Narendra Modi government came to power. “There is UAPA in the country against terrorist activities, but the conviction rate is only 2% against terrorists. However, anyone can be booked under this Act, if they raise their voice against the government,” he said, adding that some journalists who were on the way to cover Hathras incident were booked under the Act.
“Everyone knows the truth but they are still behind bars,” he said. Atiq-ur-Rahman, a 26-year-old PhD scholar was arrested last year with Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan and two others while he was on the way to Hathras to meet the Dalit gang-rape victim’s family. They were charged with sedition and under the UAPA.
Chaudhary promised that grants for farmers would be doubled — from the current Rs 6,000 annually to Rs 12,000 — if RLD was voted to power. He said the grant to the farmers will be given under a scheme which would be named after Chaudhary Charan Singh.
