Lashing out at Bharatiya Janata Party government, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that the ruling party was dividing society by spreading hatred and ruling the state on the patterns of the British.

He said that the colonial power had used the policy of divide and rule to rule the country.

The SP president said on Thursday that whenever elections were around the corner, the BJP leaders indulged in politics of jealousy, and spread hatred and misinformation to win the polls.

Advising party workers before returning to Lucknow from his ancestral village Saifai on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, Yadav said those who spoke lies were expert in the art of communicating with people and so people believed them.

Underlining the need for discipline and  for inducting youth into the cadre and their proper training, Yadav said, “SP has a long haul ahead  and the cadre should concentrate on the grassroots level to strengthen the party.”

Yadav said that it had come to his notice that the party cadre in several districts were involved in factionalism and were at loggerheads. He said this situation was not in the interest of the party and the party leaders and workers should close their ranks for the upcoming by-elections to 13 UP Assembly seats.

Commenting on the ruling party, Yadav said the SP workers should devote all their time and energy on defeating the BJP in the by-elections as the ruling party had strengthened its organisation up to the village level. He added that the party workers should work for strengthening the organisation in villages and in rural areas, keeping in mind that the image of the booth in-charge or worker in a particular region mattered as it affected the party’s base.

Slamming the BJP government, Yadav said that politics of lies and deceit was at its zenith today and the way in which people who spoke against the government were treated was well-known.