Yogi Adityanath tore into the Samajwadi Party on Friday, accusing it of forgetting the ideas of socialist ideologue, Ram Manohar Lohia, who he claimed had said that one who is interested in property and progeny is not a Samajwadi. “The Samajwadis of today,” Yogi Aditynath said, “were only interested in sampatti (property) and were prone to putting in their flags wherever they saw a vacant plot of land.”
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister was campaigning in Milkipur (Faizabad) Vidhan Sabha today. The constituency will go to bypolls on February 5. This is the CM’s first public meeting in the constituency which has traditionally not been a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Adityanath charged the Samajwadi Party flag offered protection to criminals and mafia.
On Akhilesh Yadav, he said the Samajwadi Party chief was spreading false information about the Mahakumbh and thus playing with the soul of the country. One of the recent statements by Yadav was against using the Mahakumbh for political purposes. This was in reference to the cabinet meeting which took place on the mela grounds on January 22.
Yogi Adityanath stuck to a Hindutva pitch by reminding attendees that this was the same party which had the blood of kar sewaks on its hands.
He said that the Samajwadi Party was intent on opposing everything – be it the Ram Mandir or the naming of the international airport at Ayodhya after Maharishi Valmiki. He also directed his message to Dalit voters by accusing the Samajwadi Party of opposing the development of the birthplace of Guru Ravidas, who is highly revered by the Scheduled Castes, as they account for some 60,000 votes in Milkipur.
He accused the party of having love only for mafias. The CM also brought up the rape of a 12-year-old Dalit girl in Ayodhya in which a Samajwadi Party worker, Moin Khan, was the main accused. Instead of believing the testimony of the girl, the Samajwadi Party had demanded a DNA test. The CM said that daughters should be believed, and their dignity upheld by all.
Though Milkipur is a prestigious seat for the BJP, between 1977 and 2022, the party has won from the seat only twice.