Explaining what he felt Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath meant when he said this month that the February-March assembly election is a “fight between 80% and 20%", Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and candidate from Noida Pankaj Singh said that 20% is a reference to those who live in India but sing praises of Pakistan.
In a conversation with News18.com, Singh said that the rival Samajwadi Party’s allegation of the CM’s statement being communal is baseless. He accused the SP of seeing everything through a communal lens.
“How I see 80 versus 20…These 20 are those who live here and praise Pakistan. This isn’t acceptable. (Akhilesh) Yadav praises people who are responsible for many families losing their loved ones. It is SP leaders who take names of people that polarise society. They tried to free terrorists from prisons. They even try to avoid chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai. They hesitate to sing the national anthem. Our youth can’t accept the SP," said Singh, referring to the Samajwadi Party chief’s controversial comment on Mohammad Ali Jinnah that the BJP had termed praise for the founder of Pakistan.
Akhilesh had also recently taken on the BJP for making a mocking reference to his party’s traditional laal topi (red cap) and pointed back at his rival’s saffron identifier. Singh, who is also UP vice president and state youth wing chief of the BJP, said that the SP leader will never understand the significance of the kesariya (saffron) colour.
“Akhilesh Yadav doesn’t know that when I speak of kesariya, it is a colour that symbolises purity. Sanatan Dharma ke pataka ko le kar aage badhenge (we will move forward carrying the flag of Sanatan Dharma). Our culture, spiritual strength and tradition will go hand in hand with development," said Singh.
He also alleged that Yadav understands only caste politics and even sees politics in the colour of a flag.
“We, on the other hand, believe when it comes to the nation everyone should keep their flags aside to join each other under the Indian flag. That is the feeling SP leaders will never understand. They will have to be reborn to understand this," added Singh, who claimed that the BJP will get more than 300 of the total 403 seats in the assembly polls.
On the FIR registered against Congress leader and Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel for not following Covid protocol while campaigning for the party’s candidate Pankhuri Pathak in UP, Singh said that they should have followed guidelines of the Election Commission. The BJP legislator said that representatives of all political parties should follow the Covid protocol put in place and there should be no exceptions.
Rival parties are trying to corner the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh on the issue of unemployment. Singh, a youth face of the party in the state, launched a counterattack on the opposition.
“The opposition was absent in Uttar Pradesh and also in Noida constituency. They don’t understand what people want. The opposition was on Twitter and in Delhi commenting on incidents. There was no emotional connection with the people. At the time of the migration of workers during Covid, it is the BJP who gave them slippers, arranged for water and food, and tried to facilitate their movement. The Congress, SP and BSP come only during election season," said Singh.
Asked about Akhilesh mocking CM Yogi Adityanath over having a meal at a Dalit person’s residence ahead of polls, Singh said, “At least with elections, we are seeing Akhilesh Yadav coming out to comment. Else we have seen him only on Twitter in the past five years. This is not the first time our leaders had food at a Dalit’s house. We have witnessed that scene in Prayagraj where the PM washed the feet of safai karamcharis (sanitation workers). We try to inculcate faith in the community. We have been organising Samrasta Bhoj (harmonious meals) for quite some time and it has nothing to do with elections."
Singh said the SP chief’s narrative of samajik nyay (social justice) will not work as the party has always played caste and religion politics.
There are at least 11 per cent non-Jatav Dalits in UP and around 39 per cent OBCs, who are expected to play a crucial part in the polls.
The son of union minister Rajnath Singh, who is influential among the agricultural community, said the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation against three controversial laws of the Centre and key leader of the movement Rakesh Tikait won’t be able to affect the results in western UP.
Taking on the Congress narrative of UP being unsafe for women, Singh asked why the party leadership is silent on the alleged rape of a differently abled minor girl in Rajasthan where it is in power. He also praised former police officer Asim Arun for joining the BJP in UP. “We welcome all who want to build the nation with us," he said.
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