In poll form,Rahul blames UP migration on poor development

The state has been left behind in development and the people of Uttar Pradesh will continue to go to other states in search of employment,Gandhi said.

“Political leaders should pull down the glass windows of their cars and look around. I do it,” he said addressing a political rally here.

“When I find people begging on the streets of Delhi,I ask them where they are from… the answer is mostly Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

The Congress leader said leaders should ask those who seek alms and they will know the reality of Uttar Pradesh.

Rahul came under attack from his political opponents over his remarks at the Phulpur rally on November 14 when he said people from Uttar Pradesh go to beg in states like Maharashtra because of lack of development in their state.

The Congress had dismissed the criticism as a reflection of opposition’s “restlessness” over its “rise”.

Gandhi said the state has been left behind in development and people from there will continue to go to other states in search of employment.

“The country has moved forward and you are lagging behind. If you do not move forward,then you will have to go to the rest of the country like you do. You go to Maharashtra,Punjab,Haryana to work and you will have to keep doing that,” Gandhi said.

He said that UP was losing out on development opportunities that other states were benefitting from.

“Bangalore has moved ahead in the IT sector. If UP wants to work in this sector,it cannot,because Bangalore and Hyderabad have established a monopoly in this sector.

“If you want to set up the automobile industry in UP,then Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have already moved ahead and the loss is yours,” Gandhi said.

Attacking the BSP and SP,he told the gathering that their leaders give a lot of speeches but they cannot hide what they have done in the last 20 years.

“What they have done in the past they will do in the future,” he said.

On his mission 2012,Rahul claimed that the picture of Uttar Pradesh would change in five years once the Congress comes to power.

He also claimed after changing the picture of the state in five years,and in next ten years it would be among the top states in alround development in the country.

“The governments in the last 20 years have not done anything for the benefit of the people. These were the governments led by people having a casteist mindset… now you have to ensure that a government of common people led by the

Congress comes to power in UP,” he exhorted the electorate.

“It is the result of casteist mindset of the governments that though India has been progressing,the people of Uttar Pradesh has been lagging behind. We want to bring the state back on the track of development,” Gandhi said.

The Congress general secretary said in the field of information technology,the entire country was looking towards Bangalore and Hyderabad while in development,everyone looked at Punjab,Haryana and Kerala.

“But what about Uttar Pradesh? We want to change this picture so that the entire country looks towards Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

Gandhi claimed that benefits of the Central government’s welfare schemes were not reaching the people. Instead only middlemen,ministers and bureaucrats were getting benefited by the fund of welfare schemes in Uttar Pradesh.

He said there was no dearth of funds but it was not reaching to the people in UP.

Taking potshots at Chief Minister Mayawati’s statement that MNREGA was not benefitting the people,Rahul Gandhi said he too was of the same view as the funds meant for the scheme were going in the pockets of officials,contractors and ministers.

Gandhi said while in the rest of the country people say that MNREGA is the most beneficial scheme,the Uttar Pradesh chief minister says it has no benefits.

The Congress leader said the case was not different with other central government schemes and mentioned the Janani Suraksha Yojna,whose funds he alleged was being siphoned off midway. He said the loss was of the common people and not political leaders and bureaucrats.

The Congress leader said that the former minister for family welfare in the state,Babu Singh Kushwaha,who had allegedly indulged in massive irregularities in the NRHM funds,now apprehends a threat to his life.

“The NRHM fund was not that of Kushwaha or Mayawati but that of the common people,” he said.

He said it was once said a package for weavers would not reach real beneficiaries as it was routed through the society controlled by the state government.

“We changed the system and now the money will directly reach bank accounts of the beneficiaries from a package Rs 6,000 crore,besides a waiver of Rs 3,000 crore loan,” he said.

Lauding the workers of his party he said they were the backbone of the party and they would ensure that Congress wins the coming elections.

Addressing another meeting in neighbouring Bahraich,Gandhi alleged that the UP government has taken thousands of acres of land from Gorakhpur to Noida from farmers and given it to the well-off people and builders directly benefitting housing

societies.

Lashing out at corruption in Uttar Pradesh,he said a bridge he had recently used by foot had collapsed the very next day as it merged cement was not used in its construction.

On his frequent visits to the rural areas,Gandhi said “people often laugh at me. I only say that the real power of the country and state is in the villages. There is a need to decrease the distance between leaders and the common people. Until leaders do not have meal with you and drink water from your well and fall ill,there would be no improvement or change,” he said adding that for changing UP,“anger among leaders was a must.”

On the prevailing state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh,he said a National Crime Bureau report says UP has registered the maximum crime. There is corruption and crime in Uttar Pradesh but where is industry and power,he asked.

Referring to his visit to Bhatta-Parsaul to support the farmers’ struggle against forced land acquisition,he said a Bill would be presented in Parliament soon but regretted that it was facing problems with the Standing Committee.

At the rally ground in Kaiserganj,Bahraich,some Samajwadi Party supporters tried to show black flags to the Congress general secretary but they were roughed up by Congress workers.

Banners with slogans opposing the visit (Rahul wapas jao,UP ke log bhikari nahi swabhimani hai) were seen at the Ghaghra ghat and Kaiserganj which were taken down.