SP top brass liken BJP to demons at party’s training camp in Naimisharanya

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav besides senior party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav were on the same page in terming the ruling party a ‘demon’

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav besides senior party leaders Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav on Friday likened the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to demons. Addressing a two-day party cadre’s training camp at Naimisharanya in Sitapur district, SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said, “This training camp will mark the beginning of the destruction of the BJP which is ‘asur’ (demon)”.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav offered prayers at Chakratirtha in Sitapur on June 9. (Sourced)

He also said the party camp will work as a weapon to annihilate the ‘demons’. “The BJP people are no less than demons,” he said. “BJP is in for a certain defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Bihar (assembly elections),” Ram Gopal claimed. .

According to Hindu mythology, a weapon made out of sage Dadhichi’s bones in Naimisharanya defeated an invincible ‘asur’ (demon). Ram Gopal along with another senior party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav inaugurated the camp. “The camp is being organised in a holy place of Namisharanya for annihilation of demons,” said Shivpal Yadav.

Hours after the end of the first day of the training camp, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav reached Naimisharanya. Later, in a tweet in Hindi, he said: “The one who does atrocities is asur (demon)...To save the public from demons today onwards, I have come here to pray. On my coming to this land that had annihilated demons, from today onwards ‘demons’ will begin propaganda...anyone who raises doubt over someone’s devotion is unrighteous”.

Akhilesh Yadav will address the camp on Saturday. He is also likely to offer prayers and attend rituals at temples there. Meanwhile, the selection of the place for holding the camp has triggered speculations that the party is towing soft Hindutva in view of next year’s Lok Sabha elections. Deriving its support base traditionally among Yadavs and Muslims, SP’s soft Hindutva strategy was being seen as politically significant.

The statewide training camps that the SP launched from Lakhimpur Kheri last week are for party’s 2024 LS polls preparations. About 5,000 party workers will receive training from the SP stalwarts like Ram Gopal Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Naresh Uttam Patel, Ram Achal Rajbhar and others during the two days.