UP polls: 'Leave Akhilesh Yadav, most mainstream leaders don't trust Constitution'

Counterview Desk
Rajesh Kumar, a young journalist affiliated with Zee TV, interviews Dr Prem Singh, former President of the Socialist Party (India), a small party known to be taking up people's issues currently led by Gandhian scholar-activist and Magsaysay award winner Prof Sandeep Pandey, on Uttar Pradesh elections.
Calling him a prolific and multidisciplinary writer, Dr Singh tells the interviewer that while the Samajwadi Party is better placed, opposition votes may face division.

Text:

Question: The campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections has started in full swing. Whose do you think is likely to win?
Answer: On one side there is ruling BJP and on the other side there are three major opposition parties – BSP, SP and Congress. Obviously, the vote of the opposition will be divided. The SP has formed an alliance of some smaller parties. So, it seems to have an edge. But this edge is in the realm of the opposition. For an edge over the BJP, the support of either the BSP or the Congress will be necessary in one form or the other.
Question: But it doesn't seem possible. In the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections, SP's alliance with BSP and Congress has broken.
Answer: As it is being said, if the UP elections will decide the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, then the opposition in UP will have to act very responsibly and seriously. The opposition should be accountable to the citizens who have faith in the Constitution and its institutions. There should be at least enough understanding among the opposition that in case the BJP does not get a majority, it cannot snatch the MLAs of the opposition by the way of horse-trading, and a coalition government of the opposition should be formed.
Question: What do you want?
Answer: According to the conversation I have had with some concerned citizens here in Lucknow, the Congress and the communist parties should look into the ground reality. At present, the SP-RLD alliance seems to be in the strongest position with some smaller parties. There are seven members in the Congress Legislative Assembly. Apart from these, it should contest elections only on the seats where it stood second in the 2017 assembly elections. It can do this by staying with the SP-RLD alliance, even outside it. Otherwise, it will invite the defeat of the opposition like in Bihar. In Bihar, it brought defeat by staying inside the Grand Alliance, here it can be the reason for the defeat of the opposition staying outside. Communist parties should go to the polls with SP-RLD alliance on minimum seats. They should stay together with the alliance even if they don't contest elections. In my opinion, it would be better if there is a grand alliance of opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh against the BJP-led NDA.
Question: Will the Dalit community of Uttar Pradesh continue to vote as before or will there be any change in their voting pattern?
Answer: Election experts/psephologists can talk about this. After this you will also ask questions about Muslim voters. I want, though it is a hoax, people of all castes and religions should vote as Indian citizens. That is, vote with the understanding that the anti-constitutional politics of corporate-communal nexus has to be defeated.
Question: The situation has changed in western Uttar Pradesh after the farmers' movement. Here an outrage has emerged against the Centre and the BJP, which is visible. How much impact will this have on the election and how much will the Jayant-Akhilesh duo be able to cash in?
Answer: The BJP has been doing a hard work in western Uttar Pradesh since the time of the farmers' movement. Now there it seems that RLD has come into the fight. The reason for this change is the death of Chaudhary Ajit Singh and the clear and strong role of Rakesh Tikait in the later phase of the farmers' movement. I think the BJP will try to compensate loss of western Uttar Pradesh in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Question: The picture of Akhilesh Yadav with Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh is covered in the media. It is believed that the alliance between SP and AAP has been agreed, how do you see it?
Answer: AAP should have an alliance with the BJP and not the SP. The Aam Aadmi Party is a natural ally of the RSS/BJP in the campaign that is being created to create a mixture of Corporation India and Hindu-Rashtra. Rather, it is deepening the communalization of politics to make its future.
Question: The distance between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party at the level of ideology, can it harm Akhilesh Yadav in the election?
Answer: If ideology is meant for the ideology of the Constitution of India, then leave Akhilesh Yadav, most of the leaders of the mainstream politics do not have faith in it. In the politics of India, the Constitution has become a totem. If this was not the case then it would not have been possible for leaders to boast and claim credit for development citing construction of the Central Vista or the new international airports as illustration of their achievement. They, while doing this, conveniently side line the unmeasurable gap of economic disparity, the uncountable number of unemployed, the innumerable plight of the working people and so on. Well, leave ideology, if Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhary have even the slightest knowledge of practical politics, then they will not let Aam Aadmi Party to tag along with them.
Question: What should be the role of socialist and secular minded organizations and civil society activists in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections?
Answer: If they do not play any role in any election, not only in Uttar Pradesh, then the opposition will be helped.
Question: What will be the role of Socialist Party (India) in UP elections?
Answer: As you know, I am not active in the party.
Question: In the end, what is your message for voters in Uttar Pradesh elections?
Answer: I do not consider myself to send a message. However, I would like to tell the leaders of both in power and in opposition that instead of making claims of opening new airports, smart cities, global cities, hospitals, medical colleges, universities, expressways, whatever has been built should be made functional in a smooth and effective manner. If this much is done then the sufferings of the common people will definitely be less.

Comments

India's chemical industry: The missing piece of Atmanirbhar Bharat

By N.S. Venkataraman* Rarely a day passes without the Prime Minister or a cabinet minister speaking about the importance of Atmanirbhar Bharat . The Start-up India scheme is a pillar in promoting this vision, and considerable enthusiasm has been reported in promoting start-up projects across the country. While these developments are positive, Atmanirbhar Bharat does not seem to have made significant progress within the Indian chemical industry . This is a matter of high concern that needs urgent and dispassionate analysis.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Remembering a remarkable rebel: Personal recollections of Comrade Himmat Shah

By Rajiv Shah I first came in contact with Himmat Shah in the second half of the 1970s during one of my routine visits to Ahmedabad , my maternal hometown. I do not recall the exact year, but at that time I was working in Delhi with the CPI -owned People’s Publishing House (PPH) as its assistant editor, editing books and writing occasional articles for small periodicals. Himmatbhai — as I would call him — worked at the People’s Book House (PBH), the CPI’s bookshop on Relief Road in Ahmedabad.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Muslim women’s rights advocates demand criminalisation of polygamy: Petition launched

By A Representative An online petition seeking a legal ban on polygamy has been floated by Javed Anand, co-editor of Sabrang and National Convener of Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD), inviting endorsements from citizens, organisations and activists. The petition, titled “Indian Muslims & Secular Progressive Citizens Demand a Legal Ban on Polygamy,” urges the Central and State governments, Parliament and political parties to abolish polygamy through statutory reform, backed by extensive data from the 2025 national study conducted by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA).

Bangladesh alternative more vital for NE India than Kaladan project in Myanmar

By Mehjabin Bhanu* There has been a recent surge in the number of Chin refugees entering Mizoram from the adjacent nation as a result of airstrikes by the Myanmar Army on ethnic insurgents and intense fighting along the border between India and Myanmar. Uncertainty has surrounded India's Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project, which uses Sittwe port in Myanmar, due to the recent outbreak of hostilities along the Mizoram-Myanmar border. Construction on the road portion of the Kaladan project, which runs from Paletwa in Myanmar to Zorinpui in Mizoram, was resumed thanks to the time of relative calm during the intermittent period. However, recent unrest has increased concerns about missing the revised commissioning goal dates. The project's goal is to link northeastern states with the rest of India via an alternate route, using the Sittwe port in Myanmar. In addition to this route, India can also connect the region with the rest of India through Assam by using the Chittagon...

Search This Blog