30 pc jobs for locals, ending farm distress: Cong's Arvind Singh's plan for Gautam Buddh Nagar


PTI | Noida | Updated: 05-04-2019 15:49 IST | Created: 05-04-2019 15:49 IST
30 pc jobs for locals, ending farm distress: Cong's Arvind Singh's plan for Gautam Buddh Nagar

He is all of 30, educated in the UK, speaks impeccable English and also recites with equal ease and adequate fervour Harivanshrai Bachchan's "Agneepath" and Shyam Narayan Pandey's "Chetak ki Veerta", both Hindi poems exalting bravery and courage. Arvind Kumar Singh's announcement as the Congress candidate for the Gautam Buddh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency had come as a surprise for many, with a section of local old-timers in the party even getting upset for bringing in an "outsider".

A PhD holder, Singh had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully from Aligarh. But this time around he wants to change that. Since the Congress declared him its candidate, Singh has been on whirlwind visits to villages and city areas, reaching out to people with his plans for the district that adjoins national capital New Delhi.

"We have a 17-point agenda for Gautam Buddh Nagar," says the young politician, "including jobs, farm distress, flat buyers' issues, private school fees regulation and women safety among priorities." "We will have 30 per cent reservation in jobs for local candidates. There are several skilled, qualified young men and women without jobs because companies don't hire them for being local. We need to tackle this," he told PTI.

He also wants Swaminathan Commission recommendations on farm issues implemented. "Farm distress is a major issue in the region. People's lands have been acquired, their compensations are either pending or are inadequate. The MSP (minimum support price) for crops is low, the situation needs to be improved." "We will constitute a special committee to address the flat buyers' issues, and bring in a regulation for fees in private schools and ensure strict implementation," Singh, who has headed the family-run Noida International University, said.

Singh said if he was voted to power, streets in Noida and Greater Noida would be equipped with CCTV cameras and 30 per cent personnel in all police stations would be women. But the young politician, who last went to the hustings on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket, is pitted against BJP's heavyweight Mahesh Sharma, sitting MP and a Union minister who raked in 5.99 lakh votes in 2014, and BSP-SP coalition's Satveer Nagar, a first-timer banking on anti-BJP votes and caste equation.

Singh found Sharma's tenure "full of flaws" and launched a tirade against the minister-MP. "His government waived loans of the rich, while the condition of the poor and the farmers deteriorated in his own constituency. Could not they (farmers) have been helped by the government?"

"He is a doctor but could not get any new government hospital here. There is zero healthcare infrastructure in rural areas," he claimed. On Nagar, whose candidature is also supported by the SP-BSP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Singh said the coalition has no base in the urban areas and even among the rural populace, they have been rejected for lack of ideas and plans.

Singh, who studied at the University of Leeds in the UK, also faulted the BJP for fanning his "parachute candidate" image, which he considers has has managed to overcome. "The BJP had initially tried to do it (highlight me as an outsider) when in fact I have been here since the age of 13, did my schooling here only. It was just that I contested in 2014 from Aligarh, and that is what the rivals used it against me.

"But I have been meeting people from 6 in the morning to 1.30 in the night. I visited urban areas and reached out to residents in over 300 villages and wherever I go I have witnessed people coming out in my support. So I think the outsider label is way behind me," he said. Except for Noida, which has a mixed electorate profile, Dadri, Jewar, Khurja and Sikandrabad assembly segments in Gautam Buddh Nagar may witness caste equation playing a major role in the election where Thakur votes, though not in majority but in good numbers, can turn the polls around.

"Well you cannot rule it (caste factor) out, but you also don't know what may happen. This time, it's a very complicated election, very complicated. The traditional vote may not go as they have always been doing," he said, exuding confidence of a victory. Asked about future political plans, in case he does not win, Singh, who shares "Agneepath" being his favourite poem – which talks about continuing even in the face of adversity -- said, "Happen whatever may, I am not going to leave Gautam Buddh Nagar. I am here only."

Gautam Buddh Nagar, with nearly 23 lakh voters, goes to polls on Aprill 11 during the first leg of the seven-phased elections.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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