Be wary of red-capped people, PM says, targeting SP in UP

Gorakhpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday equated the red caps worn by Samajwadi Party workers with "red beacons" that suggest a hunger for power, sounding a "red alert" against them in the state which chooses its next government early next year. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav reacted quickly, tweeting that the red caps are a "red alert" for the BJP as they will oust the party from power.

Modi's attack on the opposition party came at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home turf Gorakhpur, where he inaugurated a mega fertiliser plant and an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), together worth nearly Rs 10,000 crore. The PM also recalled fertiliser shortages in the past and slammed the previous state governments over "delays" in payment to farmers by sugar mills.

"Today, the entire UP knows very well that those wearing the red caps are concerned about the red beacon ('laal batti') and not bothered about your pain and sorrows," he said, apparently referring to the beacon atop cars carrying VIPs. "The red-cap people want power to commit scams, fill their coffers, indulge in illegal grabbing (of resources) and give complete freedom to the mafia," he said.

"The red-cap people want to form the government to show favour to terrorists and to free them from jail. Hence, you should remember that those wearing red caps are a red alert for UP, in other words alarm bells." He claimed that the previous governments had brought a bad name to UP by patronising criminals.

"But today the mafia is in jail, and the investors are investing in the state with an open heart," he said at the rally, flagging benefits of a "double-engine government" with the same party in power at the Centre and in the state. Reacting to Modi's jibe, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the red caps are a red alert for the BJP.

In a tweet, he also listed price rise, unemployment and the Lakhimpur Kheri violence involving farmers among the other "red alerts" for the ruling party. The PM's rally in eastern Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday took place on a day when the SP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal addressed their first joint public meeting in western UP's Meerut.

Modi praised the Adityanath government for doing "unprecedented" work for sugarcane growers. He said sugarcane farmers have been paid more as their dues in the past four and a half years than the amount given during the terms of governments in 10 years before this. He said the minimum support price for sugarcane has increased to Rs 350 per quintal in the state in recent years.

The state's sugarcane farmers had a tough time in getting their dues from sugar mills earlier and the process took months, he claimed. "There were different types of games played and scams committed related to sugar mills. People of Purvanchal and UP know this very well," he said.

Modi said the country which was till 2014 known for importing urea, and the shortage of fertilisers used to make headlines, is witnessing an improved situation now. Fertiliser used be diverted to non-agriculture use and farmers faced "lathis and bullets" for it, he claimed. The prime minister said his government also took steps to hike urea production by reviving closed fertiliser plants.

"We stopped the wrong use of urea, and 100 per cent neem coating of urea was done. We made soil health cards for crores of farmers so that they could know which type of fertiliser is required for their farm," he said.