Elections 2019: At Historic Joint Rally, Mayawati, Mulayam Send Strong Message to Voters

Ashutosh Jatav, 18, travelled from Karhal to Mainpuri to attend the joint rally of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday afternoon. He was one among thousands who thronged the Christian Grounds in this central Uttar Pradesh town to witness a historic event – one-time bitter rivals Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo addressing a joint rally together.

This is the first time that Mulayam Singh and Mayawati have come together after the infamous June 2 1995 Guest House case. In the following quarter of a century, the two stalwarts remained daggers drawn, leading to the well-known fractious politics and fragmentation in UP. Their coming together is expected to upend prevailing political equations and pose a difficult challenge for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Jatav, who is from the Scheduled Caste community and is studying graduation, said his father died five years ago and the family was surviving on a small piece of land and also on the Samajwadi Pension Scheme, but the financial scheme was stopped by the BJP-led Yogi Adityanath government two years ago when the party came to power in state.

The first-time voter had to take a break from his studies to support the family and this time, he said, he would vote for the Gathbandhan as he was hopeful of getting a laptop, a job and Samajwadi Pension for his mother.

Mayawati Urges Support for Mulayam

In her address, Mayawati said in the larger interest of the country, she had now forgotten the Guest House case, when a mob of Samajwadi Party supporters manhandled her at the State Guest House in Lucknow,.

"The media and all the people must be wanting to know the reason why I made an alliance with the SP despite the Guest House case. Sometimes you have to forget the past in the larger interest of the country. I am urging you all to elect Mulayam Singh ji from this constituency," she said.

Going a step ahead and appreciating Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati labelled him as the ‘real leader of backward classes’ and dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘fake backward leader’.

"While being the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi did bring the Modi caste under the backward caste segment, but in reality, Modi was an upper caste. Let me tell you Mulayam ji is a real backward leader who was born and brought up in a backward family and he is the real national backward leader in the country," she said in her address.

The BSP leader asked the people to listen to big regional leaders and not fall for promises being made by BJP and Congress.

"This is election season and political parties like BJP and Congress will come to woo you with their fake promises, which also includes financial promises, but nothing is going to done by them. The best example of fake promise is the promise of Rs 15 lakh by the BJP. You need to be aware of such people," she said.

Meanwhile, the SP patriarch was seen clapping all the time during Mayawati's address. The first joint rally of the two leaders was attended by around 20,000 people.

Mulayam Calls Her Support ‘Unforgettable’

The SP founder thanked Mayawati for coming down to Mainpuri, the home turf of the Yadav family, and urged his party supporters to always give respect to the dalit leader and former UP Chief Minister.

 "This is my last election on your (public) request, and I urge you all to send me to the parliament with a huge win margin. I am very happy to share the stage with Mayawati ji after 24 years and will never ever forget this favour of asking votes for me" he said in his address. He was seen speaking from the stage for a few more minutes but was inaudible reportedly due to microphone issues.

The National President of Samajwadi Party (SP) and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also expressed his gratitude to BSP President Mayawati. He said that the country was going through a delicate time. “The farmers are unhappy. Farmers are our soul. The BJP cheated with them. Their money is stolen. The youngster is upset. This big election is the future of the country. The BJP says - to create a new India. We say make new Prime Minister because when there will be a new Prime Minister- new India will be built. The command of this new India will be in the hands of the youth.”

Senior scribe Pankaj Jha, expressing his views on the joint rally, said tit was a symbolic event for both the parties and an attempt to pass a message to the cadres.

"Mulayam has his solid vote bank in the family bastion and Mayawati's presence will not make much impact here. This joint rally will pass a message to loyal SP supporters in the east ern region who believe in Mulayam, and not in Akhilesh (his son). This will help both the parties in transferring their votes," he said.

Jha, however, said one very important thing to be noted was that this joint rally would unite SP supporters who have shifted towards Shivpal Singh Yadav's (Mulayam’s brother) party.

SP and BSP entered into a formal pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in February this year. The alliance (called Gathbandhan) includes the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh. According to the seat sharing agreement between the three parties, SP and BSP will contest 38 seats each while the RLD will contest four seats in UP which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.

Opinion polls and election data analysis suggest that the pre-poll alliance between these three parties has the potential to emerge as a serious contender to BJP and it is likely to even upstage the ruling party. Earlier, bypolls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana had seen a trial run of this alliance with BJP suffering shock defeats in all three Lok Sabha seats despite winning them in 2014.