Ujjwal Raman Singh is credited with ending the 40- year-long political drought of the Congress in the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat in the Lok Sabha polls held this year. The prestigious seat was last represented by the Congress in 1984 when Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan won it.

Former prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and V P Singh had also represented the constituency. A law graduate and an alumni of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, Ujjwal (51) joined the Congress before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls after leaving the Akhilesh Yadavled Samajwadi Party. Manoj Bhadra of The Statesman talked to the twotime MLA and former minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav cabinet on his win from the Allahabad seat and the rising popularity of the Akhilesh Yadav-Rahul Gandhi pair. Excerpts

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Q. After mega star Amitabh Bachchan, it was you who won the Allahabad Lok Sabha seat for the Congress. You have become a star of sorts.

A. The stars are the people of Prayagraj who made me win with a huge margin of votes. Besides Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav should also be credited for my victory as they believed in me. The people of Prayagraj with their votes hit back at the government which did nothing for them.

Q: Do you believe there is a wave in favour of Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh today?

A: Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA and Rahul Gandhi’s Five Justices have contributed a lot. They caused a storm in the entire state. Yadav’s “PDA formula” refers to a combination of “Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities)”. There was a wind of change in favour of the INDIA bloc as people were tired of protesting against the misgovernance of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress, on the other hand, has opened “muhabbat ki dukaan” or a shop of love. People want love. Everyone has been troubled by this government.

Q: You are a first-time MP, representing an important Lok Sabha seat of the country. How do you feel about it and what are your views about the NDA government?

A: Though it is my first term in Parliament, I have been an MLA in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly twice. As all can see, the present NDA government’s third term is full of contradictions and they have already shown their biased attitude towards the majority of states in the Union budget. I have a gut feeling that this NDA government will crumble under its own weight and will not complete its full term.

Q: You gave your first speech in Lok Sabha on the budget which was appreciated by everyone. Your comments on the Union budget 2024-25.

A: This Budget is only meant to benefit their friends (NDA partners). This budget has reduced funds in the field of education. The government only spent 2 per cent of GDP on education, whereas countries like China spend 5 per cent of GDP on education. In absolute terms, in China Rs 56,600 crore is spent on education and in India just Rs 1,440 crore. You cannot take this country forward by ending education. If you had given good education to the youth and increased the budget to 6 per cent of the GDP, then somewhere this country would have progressed, but this government has tried to reduce it.

Q: You had said that the NDA government will crumble under its own weight. Can you elaborate?

A: Thanks to this government, the middle class is angry about indexation. You are destroying their hopes of a better life. Farmers are angry at the fact you are not giving them a legal guarantee of MSP (minimum support price), but this government does not understand the pain of farmers. In UP, electricity is a big issue as farmers are unable to run their tubewells for irrigating their agricultural land due to scanty rainfall. Besides, the law and order issue remains a major problem for the state’s citizens.

Q: What is your demand for Prayagraj?

A: Talking about Prayagraj, if you fall ill, there are no good hospitals. The Modi government talks about All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in the whole country, but Prayagraj was not given any AIIMS. Mr Modi had said in 2014 that he would revive the industrial area of Prayagraj, but not even a single industry has been revived so far. The governments of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav talked about giving tribe status to Kol caste in Prayagraj. They even sent a proposal for the same but the Centre did not act on it. Moreover, the issue of giving tribal status to 17 castes was passed in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly by the previous Samajwadi government, but the NDA yet again turned a deaf ear to it.

Q: The Yogi Adityanath government passed the controversial Nazul Land Bill and later it was dropped in the legislative council due to opposition by its own members. What is your comment as even the BJP MLA from Prayagraj had opposed it?

A: The Nazul Land Bill is a total fraud, and it should be scrapped. Through this Bill the BJP government is trying to cover up its scams done in Ayodhya, Prayagraj and other places where the officials in connivance with the BJP leaders grabbed several thousand acres of nazul land. If the government is serious on this Bill, then they should make a provision to provide all benefits to the bonafide applicants and take action against the officials who were involved in the land scam. Q. What is your take on the Centre’s U-turn on lateral entry in UPSC jobs and recommending a J P C on-the W A Q F A Amendment Bill?

A: I have already said that this government will collapse on its own burden and wrong doings. The Congress had opposed the lateral entry appointments as it would adversely impact the reservation granted to the SCs, STs and OBCs. We can say outrightly that lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis and the BJP and seeks to destroy the Constitution by snatching reservations from Bahujans. It was an infringement on the Constitutional norms too, violating the rights of the people. The Congress had demanded for a JPC on the Waqfa Amendment Bill as it was detrimental to the property rights of individuals and religious institutions without adequate legal safeguards. Besides, the Bill is an infringement of the Fundamental Right of Religious Freedom under Article 14,25, 26 and 30 of the Constitution. There are several provisions in the Bill which will certainly violate the rights of the minorities provided in the Constitution