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‘He mocked Hindu aastha’: BJP on Akhilesh Yadav's remark on temples
In a video statement, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said, among other things, that the Samajwadi Party chief's politics ‘has been about taking credit and feeling pride in firing bullets on innocent Rambhakts.’
Responding to Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav's remark on temples, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday said by making such a comment, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister had made fun of the Hindu faith.
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“Akhilesh Yadav, who claims that Shri Krishna comes in his dreams, has mocked the Hindu aastha as well. This kind of mocking of Hindu aastha is not surprising from somebody whose politics has been about taking credit and feeling pride in firing bullets on innocent Rambhakts,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla in a video shared with news agency ANI.
Poonawalla further reminded Akhilesh of the latter's ‘chillumjeevi’ comment made in November last year. “This is the same Akhilesh Yadav whose government used brutal force against sadhus and sants. This is the same Akhilesh Yadav and the entire ecosystem of the Congress party that said that Shri Ram does not exist,” Ponnawalla further said, lashing out at the said ‘ecosystem’ for opposing the Ram Temple for 70 years and comparing ISIS and Boko Haram with Hindutva.
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He also remarked that some politicians always mocked the Hindu faith, but not that of any other religion. This, Poonawalla said, showed the ‘Hindu hatred’ and ‘DNA’ of ‘Hindu nafrat’ that is there in such leaders for the sake of votebank.
“Unfortunately, Mr Akhilesh Yadav and his ecosystem is so desperate for the votebank that they will go to any extent to hurt and attack the Hindu aastha,” concluded the BJP spokesperson.
Taking a dig at the BJP, the former UP chief minister had said in Ayodhya a day ago that ‘a temple can be made anywhere by keeping a stone and a red flag under a peepul tree.’
The SP chief's remark came amid the ongoing row surrounding the court-ordered videography and survey at Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque complex. Also, in recent days, various Hindu groups have filed petitions in courts alleging some mosques were built on sites of temples.
