Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said that government officials probing the alleged embezzlement of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram temple was a “big insult to Sanatan Dharma”. His remarks came after the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav addresses the ‘Vision India: Plan, Develop, Ascent’ summit in Agra on Sunday. (HT Photo)
Interacting with media persons in Agra, Yadav said, “Anyone believing in Sanatan Dharma cannot tolerate that officers will probe seers associated with such a pious place as the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. It would have been better to close the cameras and lights and ask the guilty to return the embezzled money.”
The SP chief alleged that the BJP was rattled by the growing success of the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) alliance and was preparing to resort to unfair means in the forthcoming elections. He claimed that support from the Bahujan community was increasing and would bring about a major change in the electoral outcome.
“BJP spends thousands of crores to tarnish anyone’s image and adopts unconstitutional measures to win elections. They claim to become Vishwaguru but are unable to stop paper leaks and have now deployed the Air Force to carry question papers,” he said.
Questioning the role of the Election Commission, Yadav alleged that the BJP had defeated Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal through “negative politics” and heavy deployment of forces.
Referring to speculation about early assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, he said rumours of elections being held in November were being spread to gauge the opposition’s strategy.
“Those who were unable to hold panchayat elections can never hold early elections. This rumour of assembly elections in November is being floated to know our strategy by creating confusion, but we will not fall into the trap. The INDIA bloc will contest the assembly elections and both Congress and SP are preparing to defeat the BJP,” Yadav said.
Mocking the BJP, he said the ruling party had become afraid even of a “cockroach” and urged the youth to understand that the Samajwadi Party was the only option for ensuring their bright future.
Earlier in the day, Yadav addressed the ‘Vision India: Plan, Develop, Ascent’ summit on the problems faced by small enterprises and businesspeople and stressed the need for inclusive development and balanced growth.
He said small traders and artisans formed the backbone of Uttar Pradesh’s economy and called for a system that respected and protected them.
“The duty of a sensitive government is not just to make laws, but also to hold the hands of those people who work hard every single day under difficult conditions to build a better life for their families. Only when the small businessman is secure, respected and moves forward will Uttar Pradesh truly become prosperous and strong,” he said.
Former chief secretary Alok Ranjan, who was also present at the event, said the MSME sector generated the highest employment after agriculture. “We plan to create new MSME policies with fresh feedback that will help with capital support, marketing support and more,” he said.
