Proxy party ads add to campaign cauldron

The Samajwadi Party is advertising its achievements in a big way to shore up its chances for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party is advertising its achievements in a big way to shore up its chances for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

So after Amitabh Bachchan claimed that 8220;UP mein dum hain, kyunki jurm yahan kum hai8221; and Mulayam Singh Yadav organised a publicity blitzkrieg to highlight his government8217;s achievements, at least three other organisations have appeared with advertisements in major dailies across the state, criticising the Centre and other political parties in the fray.

Sample this: The Janjagran Sansthan from Bareilly issued an advertisement 8220;in public interest,8221; which slammed the Centre for labelling Uttar Pradesh the kidnapping belt. 8220;How the back of kidnappers was broken in UP 8212; 47 reduction in kidnappings in the last three years,8221; screamed the punchline. From 180 kidnappings in 2002, 142 in 2003, 214 in 2004 and 127 in 2005 and there were just 100 in 2006, the advertisement claimed.

8220;Noida8217;s Anant Gupta and Ghaziabad8217;s Rishi were recovered safely from kidnappers and in most cases, the kidnappers got police bullets instead of ransom. Delhi witnesses three times more kidnappings than UP,8221; the advertisement said. Another advertisement by the same organisation waxed eloquent about encounters in the state. 8220;How did the UP police strike a century of encounters? Since April 2006, the state police has killed 100 wanted criminals. SP is committed to a crime-free state.8221;

Not to be outdone, the Uttar Pradesh Swabhiman Sangh said UP ranked 24th out of 35 states and union territories on the dacoity index. 8220;In Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Bihar, there are seven times more dacoities than in UP. The Centre8217;s National Crime Record Bureau figures say so. The answer is in your hands, UP is in your hands,8221; the Sangh8217;s advertisement said. 8220;Those parties who have glass houses should not throw stones at us8221; was the punchline of yet another publicity insert by the same organisation.

The Rashtriya Shanti Lokmanch took a dig at the Congress for attacking the Samajwadi Party on the Nithari killings. Its advertisement featured a cartoon strip of PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. 8220;Does Congress have an answer to five children being raped and murdered in a Punjab Congress leader8217;s factory?,8221; it asked.

And propaganda about Mulayam Singh Yadav also abound. For instance, a shop-keeper is shown thanking the Mulayam government in an advertisement in which the Chief Minister claims he did not implement VAT in the state and removed inspector raj. 8220;Kayam rahe Mulayam8221;, is the punchline. In another poster, a truck driver says, 8220;Mulayam for me is the highway to happiness.8221; The ad claims Mulayam built more roads and bridges in three years than in all of the last 50 years. Yet another advertisement features a unemployed graduate. 8220;Mulayam gave unemployment allowance of Rs 500 per month to nine lakh graduates in UP. He promised jobs to at least six lakh unemployed graduates,8221; the ad said.