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Days after the Opposition parties huddled in Patna to chalk out a road map to defeat the BJP in the next year’s Lok Sabha elections, the BJP in a show of unity with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents in Lucknow on Sunday pledged to make Narendra Modi the prime minister for the third consecutive term by winning over 300 seats.
Senior leaders of BJP, Apna Dal (Sonenal), Nishad Party and Republican Party of India (RPI) attended the birth anniversary of Kurmi leader and Apna Dal founder Sonelal Patel, marked as “Jan Swabhiman Diwas”. Apna Dal (Sonenal) led by Sonelal’s daughter Anupriya Patel organised the function where Union Home Minister Amit Shah was the chief guest and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth the guest of honour.
The Apna Dal (S) has contested the previous two Lok Sabha and two UP Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP. Anupriya is the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and her husband Ashish Singh Patel is a Cabinet minister in UP government.
Though Apna Dal (S) workers comprised the audience, the majority of leaders on the stage were of the BJP. Besides Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, over a dozen of BJP ministers of the UP Cabinet were present on the stage. The Nishad Party, often considered a rival of the Apna Dal (S) over the OBC vote share, got a warm welcome on the stage with rounds of applause from all NDA constituents.
Addressing the gathering, Shah said that Sonelal spent his entire life struggling for the welfare of Dalits, backwards, tribals and deprived sections. He went to jail and faced police cases and atrocities many times but never quit his path of struggle for the deprived sections, he said.
Shah said that Anupriya was continuing that struggle for the backward communities and had been taking the Apna Dal (S) on the path shown by Sonelal.
Shah said that the BJP and the Apna Dal (S) together contested and won four elections — two Lok Sabha and two UP Assembly elections. “The victories, in turn, resulted in UP getting rid of the divisive forces of the Samajwadi Party and BSP. The law and order situation in the state has improved. Investments are coming to UP under the leadership of Yogi Ji. The UP administration is implementing the welfare schemes meant for the poor and launched by PM Modi,” Shah said. Shah appealed to Apna Dal (S) workers to ensure that the BJP, Nishad Party and Apna Dal (S) together win all seats in UP in 2024. Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha constituencies.
He told Apna Dal (S) workers to become a part of PM Modi’s mission for the welfare of the poor and make Modi Prime Minister for the third term in 2024 by forming an NDA government by winning more than 300 seats.
Shah said that the Modi government had done several works for the welfare of OBCs in the past nine years. “This is the first Union Cabinet in which 27 ministers are from various backward communities. They are working for the welfare of the community,” said Shah. He said the highest number of MPs from backward communities, tribals and Dalits were elected during the current NDA regime.
Attacking the Opposition Congress, SP and BSP, Shah said these parties during their reign never gave constitutional status to the backward community and never formed a commission for OBCs like Dalits and tribals. “The Congress, SP and BSP were either in power or partners in power but they never worked to give constitutional status to the backward class commission.They never formed commissions like the one for Dalit brothers or for Adivasi brothers. Modi ji worked to give constitutional status to the OBC Commission, by which the path of development of the backward class was laid,” Shah said.
The Home Minister said that the UP government established Maharaj Suheldev Rajbhar University in Azamgarh and a medical college in Pratapagrh named after Dr Sonelal.
In his address, Adityanath said that in the past nine years, PM Modi fulfilled Sonelal’s dreams of social justice. Taking about internal security, the CM said that Naxalism shrunk to only 3-4 districts and the entire country would be made free of Naxalism, separatism and extremism by 2024. “Kashmir today has become a part of the mainstream of development and democracy. The pilgrimage to Baba Barfani is progressing with great enthusiasm,” Adityanath said.
Apna Dal (S) president Anupriya Patel said that there was one more important work that needed to be done in the interest of OBCs. “The demand for making a ‘Pichda Varg Mantralay’ (an OBC ministry) is being raised for a long time. We are sure that this decision in the interest backwards of will be taken in Narendra Modi leadership only,” she Patel said.
Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, also a UP Cabinet minister, said under the BJP rule and the leadership of PM Modi and Shah, all issues of the Nishad community — whether its reservation or their rights — were being resolved.
Union Minister and RPI chief Ramdas Athawale said, “I want to tell Akhilesh Yadav that more than 80 per cent of OBCs and a large number of Dalits are with the BJP and the NDA.” Targeting BSP president Mayawati, he said that her situation was getting weaker. “So far, you have supported sister (Mayawati), now support brother. RPI is with Modi, Shah and the NDA,” Athawale said.
By bringing Apna Dal(S), Nishad Party, and RPI on a common stage, the BJP is showcasing a united NDA against the recent Opposition unity – an initiative of JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who is a Kurmi (OBC) leader. Strategically, BJP chose to showcase NDA unity on the birth anniversary of Sonelal Patel, a Kurmi leader. With Nishad Party and RPI — both having core non-Yadav OBC and Dalit vote base — the BJP is trying to consolidate as well as expand its OBC votebank. Among non-Yadav OBCs, rival Samajwadi Party has the support of Apna Dal(K) and Rashtriya Lok Dal.
