Editorial

Parivartan in Uttar Pradesh

The most important inference from the first phase of the Parivartan Yatra which concluded in Lucknow on 15th October was that the people of Uttar Pradesh were yearning for a change of government. The Yatras were perhaps the biggest-ever launched by the Congress party in the recent past. National level leaders to taluka level workers participated in the Yatras which started from six corners of the State covered every bloc and district. They all came together following the call given by Smt. Sonia Gandhi in a unique and impressive commitment to work as a team with one objective - to liberate the people of this biggest state from the stranglehold of the BJP and its pliable partners in the power game. This enthused the rank and file who participated in the Yatra in thousands with a new vigour and hope.

As the leaders took out yatras from different corners of the state and marched enthusiastically, memories of such historic events like Dandi March came to mind. Throughout the march the local people came in thousands welcoming the Congressmen, attending rallies and public meetings. The Congress leaders spoke to the people to understand their problems in true Congress tradition. Everywhere the story was almost same - the people are thoroughly frustrated over the misrule of the BJP-led coalition at the Centre and State. People spoke about mounting shortages of power, water and skyrocketing prices of farm inputs.

If urban wage-earners are suffocating in the whirlpool of the economic crisis caused by abnormal price rise the farmers in villages are groaning under the unbearable weight of cost of farming. If the people in towns found goods beyond their reach, the farmers were demoralised due to falling returns on their produce. The middlemen were making hay as the insensitive, incompetent BJP rulers were busy concentrating their time and energy dividing the people on religion, community and caste lines. The plight of the people heightened the responsibility of the Congress. Smt. Sonia Gandhi declared at the massive rally in Lucknow to mark the conclusion of the yatra that the Congress was compelled to launch the Parivartan rally, unable to tolerate the misrule of the BJP and allies. She declared that the time now has come for a change in UP. The Congress will keep its promise and the party rank and file must further strengthen the unity they had forged during the Yatra to redeem that promise.