Akash Anand, nephew of Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, was booked on Sunday over his remarks comparing the state government in Uttar Pradesh to Afghanistan's Taliban during a poll rally.
Anand, who is the National Coordinator of the BSP was reportedly booked along with his party colleagues Mahendra Yadav, Akshay Kalra, Shyam Awasthi and Vikas Rajvanshi.
Targeting the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh at Sitapur, Akash Anand reportedly said the state was run by a government of traitors, similar to that of the Taliban. The 29-year-old further said UP is governed by a "terrorist government" that starves the young and enslaves the elderly.
"This is a government (UP) of traitors. The party that leaves its youth starving, and enslaves its elderly is a terrorist government. Taliban runs such a government in Afghanistan," India Today reported Akash Anand as saying at the Sitapur rally.
According to the report, Anand did not stop there. The BSP leader reportedly went on to call BJP a "party of thieves." While BSP functions by using the money contributed by party workers, BJP is funded by the rich. The party receiving Rs 16,000 crore through electoral bonds proves this, he said.
The case has been registered under sections 171c (offense of undue influence at an election), 153b (publish statements that promote disharmony or hatred), 188 (deliberate disobedience of an order), 502(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 125 of the RP Act, the report added.
Meanwhile, Mayawati on Sunday claimed the BJP was politicising probe agencies just like the Congress earlier and asserted poverty and unemployment had increased in the country in the last two years.
Addressing a rally in Morena, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed it would not be easy for the saffron party to win if "free and fair" elections are held and there is no "tampering" of EVMs. "It seems the BJP has politicised investigation agencies just like the Congress earlier. The BJP government has also failed to check poverty, unemployment and prices, all of which have risen in the past two years The Centre is giving rations to the extremely poor but the solution is creating employment," she was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
