The Samajwadi Party said on Sunday that the development-loving people of Uttar Pradesh had given a cold shoulder to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s much-hyped chaurasi kosi yatra as it had failed to take off.
“The people of Faizabad and Ayodhya gave more preference to development than taking out a yatra. Even a large section of sadhus of the twin cities refused to take part in the yatra, giving a body blow to the VHP plan,” Samajwadi Party state spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said in a statement issued here on Sunday. Chaudhary, who is also the state Food and Civil Supplies Minister, said that through the VHP, the saffron parties were trying to create communal tension in the state but the people sided with development.
“Despite the Allahabad High Court justifying the ban on the 84-kosi yatra, the VHP made an attempt to take it out, showing its scant respect for judiciary,” he added. The Samajwadi Party state spokesman said the Akhilesh Yadav Government believed in secularism and therefore it had taken effective steps to stop this yatra.
“Our party believes that people want development. Therefore, it is working to build roads and provide electricity to people. I am happy that the people have sided with the Government and have ignored the appeal of the saffron party activists to join the yatra,” he said.