Ahead of the 75th year of independence, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that the saffron party could unleash communal violence across the state in the garb of ‘Tiranga Yatra’.
“I want to warn the people that the BJP, in the garb of Tiranga Yatra, can unleash communal violence. They can engineer incidents to create a social divide. In 2018, on Republic Day, the BJP had organised a similar yatra in Kasganj district where the ruling party fomented communal violence for its narrow political ends,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
“The BJP has emerged from an organisation (RSS) which has never recognised the tricolour. The BJP is the political wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. What can be expected from those who had never hoisted the Indian flag,” Akhilesh Yadav said here on Friday after garlanding the statue of socialist leader Janeshwar Mishra at a park named after the leader.
“On the occasion of the 75h anniversary of independence, the BJP can engineer violence for its narrow political ends for creating divisions in society. The BJP has always betrayed the people,” Akhilesh Yadav claimed.
“The BJP is projecting itself as the only nationalist party while those who don’t vote for them are labelled anti-nationals. Flag hoisting has been done for ages in India. Our Tiranga campaign is different from theirs; you will see it on August 9,” the SP chief added.
“What do you expect from people who have never hoisted the Indian flag? I have heard that the national flag has never been hoisted at the headquarters of the RSS at Nagpur. Can anyone tell me when the Indian national flag was hoisted at the RSS headquarters?” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Reverting to caste politics, the SP chief said, “The BJP has cheated the Other Backward Classes, Dalits and Muslims. They have made one OBC leader as deputy chief minister only to cheat the OBCs.”
“On the birth anniversary of Janeshwar Mishra, the SP reaffirms its resolve for caste-based census. Whenever the SP is voted to power the state government will conduct a caste-based census,” Yadav said.
The SP chief lost his cool when asked about the purpose of his party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav meeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“You are on the payrolls of the government. Your newspaper gets budgetary support from the government in the form of advertisements, so you are duty bound to ask questions that please your political masters,” he said.
Akhilesh Yadav will be starting a ‘Har Ghar Fehre Tiranga’ campaign on Kranti Diwas on August 9 at Jhauwa village in Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh. The SP will also be providing national flags to every village resident, to be hoisted from August 9 to 15 at every house. The SP chief will also give tricolour made of khadi to every family in Jhauwa village on the day and meet families of freedom fighters in the area.
“August 9, 1942, is a day of national pride. On this day, the country got independence only as a result of the call for Quit India movement. It is also a day to pay homage to martyrs of the freedom struggle and take a pledge to build the India of their dreams. The SP will cooperate in hoisting the tricolour from house to house from August 9 to 15, and will also take a pledge to save democracy and socialism," Akhilesh Yadav said.
