UP ready for parivartan, says Rajnath Singh

Lucknow: The 49-day long Parivartan Yatra of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) — the part’s first pre-poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh — culminated in Lucknow on Saturday with Union home minister Rajnath Singh declaring that UP was ready for a “Parivartan” (change).

Mr Singh, who held a roadshow on the occasion along with party state president Keshav Maurya and Union ministers Kalraj Misra and Uma Bharti, said that the response of the people had been “overwhelming” and the yatras had laid the foundation for change in UP. “Never before in my life have I seen such a massive response, and this proves that the people are yearning for a change and are keen for good governance — something only the BJP can ensure,” he said as the yatras that started from different parts of the state on November 5, concluded into a massive roadshow on Saturday.

According to the convenor of the programme, Mahendra Singh, the yatras have reached out to nearly two crore people across the state, covering a distance of about 17,000 kilometres.

He said that this has served as a morale booster for the party supporters and unified them to work towards the party’s victory in the upcoming Assembly elections.

PM Narendra Modi also addressed six rallies in Ghazipur, Agra, Kushinagar, Moradabad, Bahraich and Kanpur.

The yatras have also attempted, to an extent, to diffuse the negative impact of the demonetisation move by talking of national interest behind the decision.

Union ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders addressed the yatras during the 49-day event.

Apart from listing the achievements of the Modi government, the Parivartan Yatras also highlighted the failures of the Akhilesh government and the previous BSP regime. The Parivartan Yatras were also promoted on the social media extensively.

This, incidentally, is the first time that the BJP has taken out an issue-based Yatra with the focus being on good governance of the Modi government and the need for change in Uttar Pradesh.

The party will now draft its second phase of campaign in the state before finalising its list of candidates.

Meanwhile, the BSP has slammed the Parivartan Yatras saying that it was designed to divert the attention of the people. BSP president Mayawati claimed that the yatras were a flop because of the demonetisation decision which had thrown the common man’s life out of gear.