REPORT

Parivartan Yatra - A Big Success

Parivartan Yatra launched by the Congress party took Uttar Pradesh by storm. People from all walks of life attended in lakhs, the 11,00 public meetings held in every nook and corner of the sprawling state reflecting their disenchantment with the ruling BJP.

Salman Khursheed addressing a rally

The misrule of the BJP government at the Centre and equally partisan rule by their government in Uttar Pradesh which was ignoring developmental activities leading to growing frustration among the people compelled the Congress party to launch the campaign in the state to educate the masses about the corrupt practices and misguided policies of the BJP government.

The high-point of the nearly month-long Parivartan Yatra was a massive public meeting at Lucknow, to mark its conclusion of the first phase where, the Congress president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, declared that time had come for a change in the government in UP. Mrs. Gandhi outlined the weaknesses of the present government and extolled the ideological strength of the Congress.

The UP CLP leader, Mr. Pramod Tiwari, the AICC general secretary, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the AICC secretary, Mr. Anil Shastri, and Ms. Ratna Singh MP at the Parivartan rally at Pratapgarh

While the people were suffering from shortage of power and water, those in power were engaged in playing politics of religion, she said. Uttar Pradesh had paid a heavy price for having handed over power to the BJP and other political forces. It was necessary to introspect how and under what circumstance, the ‘mistake’ had been committed.

The direction should change from a race to grab power to desire to serve the masses. The elections should have been held within this month, Mrs. Gandhi said, adding that making big promises and changing faces in the government were not enough to send the right message to the people who had given the BJP-led coalition a chance to serve them. The government ended up exploiting people.

Coming down heavily on the BJP leaders for saying that no progress had been made in the country in the past 50 years, she said these were the people who had made power an "instrument of deceit". Even the sacred Ganges would refuse to clean what they had done. "Where were they when the Congress was waging the struggle for India’s freedom? Where were they when Nehru was laying the foundation of new India?", she remarked. Her’s was a party that stuck to its ideology. The Congress had never compromised with communalism. But, the BJP and other parties had made every attempt to exploit communal and caste factors.

Earlier, in a hard-hitting speech in Amethi, the traditional battle ground of the Gandhi family, on 27 September, Mrs. Gandhi lambasted the BJP governments at the Centre and the state for their corrupt and anti-people policies and added that they had forfeited the right to stay in power. The Parivartan rallies indicated the way the wind was blowing. Mrs. Gandhi said it was for the electorate to compare the progress being made in the Congress-ruled states and the progress shown by those states being ruled by the BJP government and their allies.

The Parivartan Yatra had an electrifying effect on the Congress workers and during this period the Yatras passed through 17 Divisions comprising more than 110 organisational and revenue districts and about 850 blocks of the state. Enroute, the Congress leaders held around 1,100 public rallies and meetings and apprised the people of the misrule by the BJP government, exposing the real face of this obscurantist party and leaders who were neck deep in corruption. There was no law and order in the state and injustice was being done on scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, minorities and other weaker sections of the society, the kisans were not getting enough water and power for tilling the land and there was total disfunction of the power sector, accused the Congress leaders. Their misdeeds were witnessed throughout the nation and the world in the arms deal in the Tehelka expose on TV.

The campaign which was to start initially on 15 September had a galaxy of Congress leaders participating in it. The rallies initiating from six different cities of the state were to converge in a mommoth public rally in Lucknow where the Congress president was to address them on 4 October.

The Yatra had to be suspended for 10 days in the midst of Parivartan Yatra due to the untimely death of senior Congress leader, Shri Madhavrao Scindia, who died in a plane crash while going to participate in one of the meetings of Parivartan Yatra. The Parivartan Yatra concluded on November 15 in Lucknow.

Meanwhile, the ‘Parivartan Rally’ commenced at Shajahanpur on September 30 under the leadership of Smt. Kanta Prasad. The rally was a big success.

‘BJP leave the seat’ agitation led by former UP Chief Minister and local leaders was also put in action according to Shri Ved Prakash Shrimali, District organising secretary, district Congress Committee, Shajahanpur, UP.

The Congress president had said during her Amethi speech that, "BJP ki sarker mauka parasti ki ek misal ban gayi hai. Is bhrasht, gair-zimmedar sarkar ko ukhad kar phek do (The BJP government has become an example of opportunism. Throw out this corrupt, irresponsible government), she said.

The Congress president continued her tirade against the BJP government and said that nothing could be expected from the BJP which was doing natak (drama). They had come to power promising to end corruption and set-up a fear-free society. Five years have gone down the line and all its promises had come to a nought.

Mrs. Gandhi said that the Centre and the state were headed by governments which ignored people’s welfare. No new industry has been set-up in Uttar Pradesh and those established by the Congress had been closed down. Mrs. Gandhi said the attention of those in power was on the kursi (Chair) and on promoting personal interest. She said the crime rate in Uttar Pradesh had registered a marked rise with criminals enjoying political patronage. Corruption was rampant she said, wondering what were the compulsions which led UP to have three Chief Ministers in a short span of time. Why did the present Chief Minister remember to remove corrupt ministers at a time when the Assembly elections were round the corner?, she asked.

Looking at the misfortune of the people of Uttar Pradesh who were silently suffering the misdeeds of the BJP and its poor governance in the state, the Congress party decided to launch "Parivartan Yatra" to educate the people and create awareness among the electorates.

The Parivartan Yatra started from six cities of the state to converge in Lucknow on November 15 where the Congress president addressed the gathering. The Yatras commenced from Gautam Budh Nagar in Noida, (Saharanpur) Deoband, Lalitpur, Varanasi, Ballia and Gorakhpur, respectively. These Yatras were led by Chief Ministers, Ministers, MPs, MLAs, CWC members, AICC secretaries and lakhs and lakhs of party workers.

They include the AICC general secretary and incharge of UP, Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik, Kumari Selja, KK Sharma, Dr. Chandrabhan (minister in the Rajasthan Government), Sayeed Ahmed (minister in Maharashtra Government), Salman Khursheed, Satpal Malik, ex-MP and AICC observer Washim Ahmed, Tilotama of Indian Youth Congress, Ahmed Patel (CWC member), former UP Chief Minister ND Tiwari, former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Virender Singh (CWC member), Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dixit, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Chattisgarh Ajit Jogi, Deputy CM of Madhya Pradesh Subhash Yadav, Ram Kishan Gujjar (minister in Rajasthan Government), Avtar Singh Badana MP, Rama Pilot MP, Haryana PCC president BS Hooda, AICC secretary Dalbir Singh, former Chief Minister of Haryana Bhajan Lal, Sushil Kumar Shinde, AR Antuley, Santosh Chaudhary, Hanumanth Rao, Tayab Hussain (minister of Agriculture in Rajasthan Government), BD Kalla (minister in Rajasthan Government), Ram Kishan Verma (minister in Rajasthan Government), former Agriculture minister Balram Jakhar, Zaffar Ali Naqvi, Begum Noor Bano MP, Said-ul-Jaman MP, Kanta Prasad, Indian Youth Congress general secretary Anil Bhardwaj, AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vora, RK Dhawan, UP PCC president SriPrakash Jaiswal, AICC secretary Janardhan Dwivedi, Mrs. Sushila Tiriya, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, Choga Ram Bakatia, Ram Kishan Verma, Sujan Singh Bundela MP, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Shanker Singh Vaghela and UP minority department chairman Shri Fazal Masood, AICC secretary Subodh Kant Sahay, AICC secretary Anil Shastri and CLP leader in UP Pramod Tiwari, AICC general secretary Shri Oscar Fernandes, ML Fotedar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Home Minister Kripa Shanker Singh, Vishwa Mohan Sharma (minister in Bihar Government), Ashok Chaudhary (minister in Bihar Government), Lokpati Tripathi MLA, Shyamlal Yadav, National Students Union of India president Ms. Meenakshi Natarajan, UP Mahila Congress president Dr. Ranjana Bajpayee, AICC general secretary Mahavir Prasad, AICC general secretary and Member of Parliament Kamal Nath, AICC secretary Imran Kidwai, Dr. CP Joshi (Education Minister in Rajasthan Government), Chandan Bagchi (AICC secretary), Chandrajit Yadav and Indian Youth Congress president Randeep Singh Surjewala, CWC member Mrs. Mohsina Kidwai, Ram Naresh Yadav, AICC secretary BK Hariprasad, AICC secretary Satyajit Gaekwad, Vijay Shanker Dubey (CLP leader and minister in Bihar Government), Md. Naseem (minister in Maharashtra Government), Kripa Shanker Singh (Home Minister in Maharashtra Government), Sarvshakti Prasad Singh (leader of UP Vidhan Parishad) and UP Sewa Dal chief organiser Prahalad Diwedi, Shanti Dariwal (Housing Minister in Rajasthan Government), Abdul Aziz (minister in Rajasthan Government), Harikesh Bahadur Singh ex-MP, Raj Bahadur (UPCC vice-president), Doodh Nath Rajbhar (UPCC general secretary), Ms Saroj Shukla (secretary UPCC), Nizamuddin Khan (secretary UPCC), Ratnakar Pandey (Observer UPCC) and Zafar Ali Naqvi (Observer UPCC).

- Rattan Francis