Lucknow, Feb 27 (Agency) Calling the Yogi Adityanath’s rule as a mix of authoritarianism, fanning religious hatred and caste enmity, Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday appealed to the electorates in Uttar Pradesh to vote for change. In a message issued on the day of the fifth phase of polling for the state assembly, Chidambaram said UP has sent eight prime ministers to the Center, and yet remained a backward region. Addressing the media in Lucknow, the former union home minister also said: “I have followed this election from a distance. I am familiar with the campaign speeches, the claims made and the promises given. It leaves me somewhat sad and apprehensive about the future.” “I respectfully ask the voters of UP, what are you voting for? Adityanath’s model of governance is a mix of authoritarianism, fanning religious hatred, perpetuating caste enmity, police excesses and gender violence. This model has made the state poorer and kept the majority of the people of UP poor,” Chidambaram said. “It is time for change.
If your vote does not bring about a comprehensive change — a change of government, a change of attitude, a change of policies, a change of direction and a change of values — your vote will not do justice to your and your family’s goals and aspirations. I appeal to you to vote for the Congress and vote for a comprehensive change,” he said. The Congress leader said it has been a hard fought election, with “four key players”, and each one of them has its own strength and appeal. “The Congress has, after a long interval, planted its flag in all 403 constituencies and has fielded candidates in all of them. It has given a new dimension to the goal of gender equality in elections,” he said. He hailed Priyanka Gandhi’s clarion calls and especially the slogan ‘Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakthi Hoon’ and said it has brought a new energy to the campaign.
He praised Priyanka for campaigning “tirelessly through the length and breadth of this vast state.” “I sincerely appeal to the people of Uttar Pradesh to support the Congress and vote for the Congress’ candidates,” he said. He also highlighted how UP lagged behind despite being politically significant. “Yours is the post populous state in India. You are among the hardest working people of India. You have sent eight prime ministers to Delhi and all of them were honourable people. “Yet Uttar Pradesh is poor, its people are poor and on many economic and social indicators the state is at the bottom. Let’s focus on the last five years,” he said. He said the Gross State Domestic Product growth rate of UP has declined steadily from 11.4 per cent in 2016-17 to a minus 6.4 per cent in 2020-21 and the per capita income is less than half the national average. “Under Adityanath, the per capita income actually declined by 1.9 per cent. The total debt of the state stands at Rs 6,62,891 crore which is 34.2 per cent of the GSDP: Adityanath alone added 40 per cent to the debt,” he said. “According to the multi-dimensional poverty index released by the NITI Aayog, 37.9 per cent of the population is poor. In 12 districts, the ratio is over 50 per cent, in three districts it is over 70 per cent — they are Shrawasti, Bahraich and Balrampur (all of them are polling today).” He added the youth of UP are the worst affected.