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Soni Mishra
Soni Mishra

BUNDELKHAND

UP polls: Saffron clad star campaigner for Congress

PTI2_11_2017_000065B (File) People lining up to vote in UP polls | PTI

 The Congress has fielded 23-year-old saffron clad religious speaker Sadhana Bharti as a star campaigner in the ongoing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Bharti, who had in 2008 made headlines as the youngest campaigner for a political party in Madhya Pradesh polls, when she had campaigned for the Congress, has been actively campaigning for the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance in UP.

The main reason the Congress brought in Sadhana to campain in UP was to neutralise the impact of Union Minister Uma Bharti, who is campaigning for the BJP in the elections. Like Bharti, Sadhana had started giving sermons at a very early age. Like Bharti senior, she belongs to the Lodh community. This was especially relevant in the Bundelkhand region because Uma Bharti hails from there and is a sitting MP from Jhansi, which falls in the area. Sadhana campaigned extensively in Bundelkhand in an attempt to counter the impact of Uma Bharti, who was one of BJP's main campaigners in the region.

Elections in Bundelkhand are over, and Sadhana's name figures in the Congress' list of star campaigners for the remaining two phases of polling in the seven-phase election in UP.

It is felt that Sadhana, who has been giving pravachans since she was two-and-a-half years old, symbolises the Congress' soft Hindutva face. Sadhana, who begins her speeches with the Gayatri Mantra, speaks passionately in favour of the alliance.

Belonging to Eta in UP, the girl is known for her oratorial skills. And there have often been comparisons between her and Uma Bharti.

In her campaign, Sadhana attacks the Modi government, saying the Centre has not cooperated with the Akhilesh Yadav government when it comes to development work in the state. She bats for Yadav, saying he has a vision for development of UP. Reaching out to the youth, she says the alliance has concrete plans on what should be done for the youth.

Accusing both the BJP and the BSP of practising divisive politics, she says, “Samajwadi Party and the Congress take all religions along. The slogan of the alliance is Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai Apas Mein Hain Bhai Bhai.”

Attacking the BSP, she says the party has been in alliance with the BJP in the past and has formed government with the support of the saffron party.

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