Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, alleging that it is against minorities.
“Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak hamara bhagwan hai, and the PDA alliance will ensure the defeat of the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Samajwadi Party will win all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. We will go to the polls with the war cry of ‘80 Harao, BJP Hatao’. After losing 80 seats in UP, the BJP will be toppled from power in Delhi. Only PDA will compete with NDA,” Akhilesh said here on Tuesday.
“The BJP government is against minorities. Our god is PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (backwards, Dalits, and minorities),” said Akhilesh who has been consistently emphasising the potential defeat of the BJP-led NDA in the upcoming general elections by PDA.
Amidst disagreements within the INDIA bloc, Akhilesh affirmed his party’s commitment to the alliance, stating, “As far as the alliance is concerned, the Samajwadi Party stands with full responsibility. We will know very soon who should fight from where. One thing is clear that not only the people of Uttar Pradesh but the entire country want to remove the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the SP chief said.
Akhilesh also hit out at the BJP’s pledge taken earlier to double farmers’ income by 2022, stating, “The BJP is promoting the idea that India will become developed. It had promised to double farmers’ income but it did not happen. The SP had also promised that the jobless would get respectable employment.”
Expressing confidence in the judiciary, Akhilesh welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision in the Bilkis Bano case. “We do not trust the BJP, but we trust the courts. We believe that all those falsely accused will get justice,” he remarked.
The Supreme Court recently overturned the Gujarat government’s order granting remission to 11 convicts involved in the gangrape and murder of Bilkis Bano during the 2002 Godhra riots. The apex court also ruled that the Gujarat government lacked the authority to pass remission orders, assigning the responsibility to the Maharashtra government.
Targeting UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the SP chief said: “As per the National Crime Records Bureau data, Uttar Pradesh’s record in women safety is the worst. UP is also on top in custodial deaths and over one lakh farmers have committed suicide across the country ever since the BJP was voted to power in 2014.”