The Samajwadi Party is advertising its achievements in a big way to shore up its chances for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

So after Amitabh Bachchan claimed that “UP mein dum hain, kyunki jurm yahan kum hai” and Mulayam Singh Yadav organised a publicity blitzkrieg to highlight his government’s achievements, at least three other organisations have appeared with advertisements in major dailies across the state, criticising the Centre and other political parties in the fray.

Sample this: The Janjagran Sansthan from Bareilly issued an advertisement “in public interest,” which slammed the Centre for labelling Uttar Pradesh the kidnapping belt. “How the back of kidnappers was broken in UP — 47% reduction in kidnappings in the last three years,” screamed the punchline. From 180 kidnappings in 2002, 142 in 2003, 214 in 2004 and 127 in 2005 and there were just 100 in 2006, the advertisement claimed.

“Noida’s Anant Gupta and Ghaziabad’s Rishi were recovered safely from kidnappers and in most cases, the kidnappers got police bullets instead of ransom. Delhi witnesses three times more kidnappings than UP,” the advertisement said. Another advertisement by the same organisation waxed eloquent about encounters in the state. “How did the UP police strike a century of encounters? Since April 2006, the state police has killed 100 wanted criminals. SP is committed to a crime-free state.”

Not to be outdone, the Uttar Pradesh Swabhiman Sangh said UP ranked 24th out of 35 states and union territories on the dacoity index. “In Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Bihar, there are seven times more dacoities than in UP. The Centre’s National Crime Record Bureau figures say so. The answer is in your hands, UP is in your hands,” the Sangh’s advertisement said. “Those parties who have glass houses should not throw stones at us” was the punchline of yet another publicity insert by the same organisation.

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