With the leaders of several trade unions joining Congress in Uttar Pradesh the party seems set to capture power in the state. This seems to be the case as there is no viable opposition alternative to the Congress.

WHAT DO trade unions in the organized service sector and the Congress Party have in common in Uttar Pradesh? To the uninitiated – nothing – but to the politically savvy – the middle class. For long this middle class has given direction and political leadership to the state. Today it is at a crossroad. Thus, when leaders of several Trade Unions including Bankers Associations, service sector employees; power workers and teachers associations joined the Congress Party in Lucknow on Saturday bringing with them an influence over a cadre of almost four to five lakh persons in the state, it was bound to raise eyebrows.
 
With the Assembly elections only months away the message being sent out by the service sector employee’s leaders is that the Congress is receiving the support of the middle class salaried employee in the forthcoming elections.

Comrade Y K Arora of the Bank of India Staff Union as he is fondly referred to by his colleagues who led the joining in the Congress Party and has been made its new Vice President of the Labour Cell for the organized sector, is upbeat when he said in the meeting that this cadre shall provide grassroots support to the party in the state. It will play a great role in influencing the voting patterns in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections, he quipped.

According to Arora the decision to join the Congress was based on several factors. There is no alternative to the Congress in the state. Today, Uttar Pradesh is badly in need of development and unemployment has become rampant in the state.

The middle class stands at a cross roads, job security, financial security and social security are all endangered by corruption, communalism and parochialism in politics. Today there are several threats before the working class, instead of providing guidance to the polity and economy it is now sidelined and marginalized. Corporate majors now call the shots and price rise and instability threaten its existence, he said.

To provide stability to the middle class a stable government, which focuses on development, is the need of the hour. The working class has seen only the rise of mafia wad, communalism and casteism in UP politics, these sadly have not contributed to the development of the state in fact they have left it far behind other states. Today UP lags behind every state in terms of development. There are no power plants worth the name, no proper job opportunities and no proper business opportunities because the political parties the day do not see it fit to promote or protect the service sector. In their scheme of things the middle class does not exist.

Therefore, what is being witnessed in Uttar Pradesh is a migration of the service sector to other states in search of jobs as these jobs do not exist in UP. One has not heard of any political party talking about providing jobs for persons in UP or talking about setting up factories or institutions to employ them. So Uttar Pradesh is being reduced to a sad state of affairs a state without a service sector or a middle class and its values.
 
The state is rocked by several scams, senior politicians of the ruling party are in jail for heinous offences like rape and kidnapping, there is rampant frustration in the bureaucracy and more scams are likely to hit the headlines as the elections draw near, says Arora.

UPCC Chief Dr Rita Bahuguna Joshi who inducted the TU leaders into the party fold echoed the same sentiment. The values that the Congress stands for are the values the middle class stands for, she said.

 
What was unique about this joining was that it was organized by a Rita’s own brat pack of young party workers who had themselves joined the party only two years ago. A party founded by Nehaluddin Ahmad (a former trade union leader and Congressman) known as the Peoples Democratic Forum. Nehaluddin’s team led by Salahuddin, Ajit Chak and Naseem Khan orchestrated the entire event.

Rita Bahuguna was also quick to admit that this joining will have a state wide impact on the party’s future in the coming elections both in urban and rural areas. Prominent among those who joined with Arora were M B Singh Gen Secy Dena Bank officers Association UP, J P Yadav Ex President State Bank Officers Association UP, Pratap Shukla Gen Secy Retirees Bank Employees Association UP, S D Mishra Gen Secy Union Bank Employees Union UP, D P Verma Gen Secy Punjab National Bank Employees Union, UP, Kamta Prasad Advocate Ex Office bearer of Bank of India Officers Association of SC/STs, M P Singh President Bank of India Employees Cooperative Credit Society UP Kanpur and several others.