No politics behind demand for Purvanchal, claims Amar Singh

GORAKHPUR - Concluding his Purvanchal Swabhiman Vikas Yatra across eastern Uttar Pradesh, ousted Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh Thursday said there was no politics behind his demand for creation of an independent Purvanchal state out of this region.

“My sole aim is to fight for the cause of Purvanchal and I have no intention of playing any politics in the name of creation of that state,” he said, addressing a rally that marked the culmination of his month long ‘yatra’.

Amar Singh focussed on the “rich potential” and “exploitation” of the region, besides repeatedly training his guns at his erstwhile political mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav.

“Since I am a son of this very soil (belonging to Azamgarh), my heart beats for this region”, he said, while adding, “and I decided to undertake this march to exhort the local masses to give up their fears and some out in the open to support their own cause.”

Amar Singh’s closest supporters - Jaya Prada and Sanjay Dutt - provided the Bollywood magic to pull fairly good crowds, while popular Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwari added the local flavour at the three-hour long rally that concluded at sunset.

Giving their own justification for extending their support to Amar Singh in his mission, each of them made it a point to impress upon the crowds how they had got connected emotionally with the cause that had led them to pitch in.

“I came to Uttar Pradesh all the way from Andhra Pradesh in the south; and even though I made western Uttar Pradesh my political base, I always felt that eastern Uttar Pradesh deserved a far better deal that what it had been getting,” said Jaya Prada, amid loud applause.

While Tiwari sought to highlight the issues related to Purvanchal through his specially composed parodies, it was Dutt, who raised the emotional pitch by embarking upon Amar Singh’s illness leading to a kidney transplant.

“It was a pity that while Amar Singh was battling with life, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was planning his ouster from the party,” he said.

Besides talking about “exploitation” of the people of eastern Uttar Pradesh in different parts of the country, where they were compelled to go in search of employment, Amar Singh sought to condemn successive political regimes for closing down several sugar mills in the region.

“People from Purvanchal have no option but to traverse long distances in search of employment, only to land up in places like Assam where they are targeted by Bodos or in Mumbai, where they have to remain at the mercy of Thackerays,” he lamented.