It was the era of ethics and idealism, when the renowned farmer leader of UP and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh was in politics. In those days, morality was there in the life of most of the leaders. In 1977, Chaudhary Charan Singh had told voters in a public rally in UP that if his party’s candidate posses a bad character, drinks liquor, or is involved in cheating with farmers and labourers, then do not hesitate to defeat him.
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Three to four years had passed since that rally, when in 1980, the young leader Gopinath Verma of Tanda Tehsil of Faizabad district, and supporter of Chaudhary Charan Singh, asked for a ticket for the assembly elections. Chaudhary Charan Singh responded to him and said, “Go to your region, it will be informed in due time.” Verma first got disturbed by hearing these words of Mr.Chaudhary , but he dared again in fear and said to Chaudhary ji , ‘How will we be informed, the state president has excluded my name from the ticket list and has written the name of a liquor trader in place of my name.’
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Upon hearing this, Chaudhary Charan Singh summoned Janata Party (Secular) state president Ramvachan Yadav and asked the reason for not including Gopinath’s name. Yadav told due to compulsion. Liquor trader has donated 9 lakh rupees, listening this Chaudhary ji got agitated and said, ‘The compulsion will be yours, not the party. You return the businessman his nine lakh rupees. We will not make any liquor businessman our candidate. ‘Thus, the ticket of that liquor businessman was cut off and Gopinath’s ticket was confirmed and Gopinath won the election by 52 votes.
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But gradually morality and idealism seems to have disappeared completely from the public life. Tales of such moral courage are no longer heard, but the consumption of liquor has increased in the elections as the candidates themselves distribute free liquor in large scale. In the present elections, reports regarding distribution of liquor are coming thick and fast from every region.