Addressing one lakh farmers in fluent Hindi at the Viraat Kisan rally, held at Numaish Ground in Etawah district on Monday, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu pleasantly surprised many. Naidu urged farmers to unite and promised them that they will be freed from the burden of heavy loans, get subsidy on seeds and fertilizers, as well as crop insurance. All they will have to do is ensure that the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) forms government at the Centre in the forthcoming polls. The rally was also addressed by other former chief ministers — Mulayam Singh Yadav, Om Prakash Chautala, Babu Lal Marandi — and leader of opposition in Assam, Brindaban Goswami.

Lambasting Bahujan Samaj Party-led Government in Uttar Pradesh, Naidu said the state Government has implicated Samajwadi Party leaders under fake charges and the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have divided the society on caste lines.

Chautala claimed that UNPA’s objective was to ensure justice to farmers. “Even after several decades of independence, over 50 per cent of population lives below the poverty line,” he said, adding that the youth of Etawah have started a revolution against the Central and the state governments. “They have faced bullets and one student has lost his life. The youth should come forward to strengthen the UNPA,” he said. Addressing the gathering, Mulayam Singh Yadav said UNPA is an alliance of political leaders from across the country — Farooq Abdullah, Chautala and Marandi from the north, Goswami from the northeast, Naidu from the south. He claimed that once his government comes to power, all the terminated UP police constables will be reinstated.