Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that while SP leader Azam Khan is in jail for building a university, a Union minister’s son is out on bail in a case pertaining to the killing of farmers, and termed it the “new India” of the BJP.
The remarks came a day after the Allahabad high court granted bail to Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, and cast doubts on the police investigation into the violence that roiled Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 and killed eight people.
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Addressing an election meeting in favour of Azam Khan and other SP candidates in Rampur, Yadav said, “Azam Khan was sent to jail on false charges. Cases of buffalo theft, chicken theft and theft of books were lodged against him. But the man who crushed farmers under the wheels of a jeep has come out of jail. This is the new India of the BJP.”
“The man who built a university for you, fought for your rights and honour, was sent to jail... Nowhere in the world, farmers have been crushed by a jeep. But since the Uttar Pradesh polls are here, he has got bail and is out,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“The man who built a university for you, fought for your rights and honour, was sent to jail... Nowhere in the world, farmers have been crushed by a jeep. But since the Uttar Pradesh polls are here, he has got bail and is out,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}Khan, a Lok Sabha member who is credited with building the Jauhar University, is contesting the assembly elections from his home turf Rampur. He has been in jail since February 2020 in connection with several cases.
On February 8, the Supreme Court denied him interim bail to enable him to effectively contest the February-March assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, saying he must go to either the trial courts or the Allahabad high court for relief. Rampur will vote on February 14.
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The SP chief also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his claims on Thursday that the first phase of the UP elections was going the BJP’s way, and said that the “wipeout” of the ruling government has begun in the first phase and will continue.
During a rally in Kasganj earlier in the day, PM Modi had said: “Yesterday, the first phase of voting was completed. The people voted for the BJP in large numbers for the security and development of Uttar Pradesh... The BJP is leading in the first phase of elections, according to the leads. The ‘ghor-parivaarwadi’ people have also come to know that the boat has sunk. That is why they have started raising questions over the EVM and the election commission. The people do not want to accept you. They do not want ‘gundaraj’.”
Dismissing the claims, Yadav said: “People were waiting for March 10 for the election results, but the way voting took place in the first phase (on Thursday), it seems that the results were out yesterday in SP’s favour by the evening.”
“In the first phase of polling, people from different sections of the society including farmers, have wiped out the BJP and whatever is left will be wiped out in the second phase from Saharanpur to Rampur,” he added.