BY MOHAMMAD TARIQUE SALEEM
Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief of the Samajwadi Party today strongly criticized Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of maligning his party. Yadav challenged the allegations by the BJP that linked him and his party to mafia activities. He provocatively asked the public to compare pictures of himself and Yogi Adityanath and decide who looked more like a “mafia.” This was in response to ongoing verbal attacks from the Chief Minister.
During the conference, Yadav took issue with the BJP’s narrative and claimed that the party benefits from dividing people along religious lines, such as creating a Hindu-Muslim divide. He sarcastically urged the state government to release a list of the top 10 mafias in the region, pointing out that several cases have been lodged against Yogi Adityanath himself, raising questions about who is truly involved in criminal activities.
On a different note, Yadav criticized the government’s handling of public safety, particularly regarding recent wolf attacks in Uttar Pradesh. He suggested that the government employ its “thoko niti” (encounter policy) by sending the Special Task Force (STF) to eliminate these wolves if they cannot otherwise deal with the threat. The comment was seen as a dig at the state’s approach to law and order.
Yadav also used the platform to attack the BJP’s “One Nation, One Election” proposal, calling it a conspiracy designed to distract people from critical issues. He noted the huge 18,626-page report on the proposal, questioning how the government could have adequately debated it in just 191 days. He expressed doubts about whether the recently proposed women’s reservation policy would ever be implemented, hinting that the BJP’s true intention was to keep people entangled in such debates without delivering real results.
