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UP elections: Akhilesh Yadav hits back at Amit Shah over JAM salvo
“I don’t know what BJP means by JAM but as far as I know, JAM stands for jhooth, ahankar (arrogance) mehangai (inflation) under the BJP rule,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said.
Hitting back at Union minister Amit Shah for his ‘JAM ‘salvo, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said Bharatiya Janata Party stands for ‘jhooth, ahankar and mehangai’ (lies, arrogance and inflation).
“I don’t know what BJP means by JAM but as far as I know, JAM stands for jhooth, ahankar (arrogance) mehangai (inflation) under the BJP rule,” the former chief minister told the crowd at a roadshow in Hata area of Kushinagar district in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
“The BJP needs to reply to JAM… it is diverting people’s attention from core issues like inflation, corruption and unemployment. We will reply to their JAM with our butter. Soon, you will know what our butter is,” he added.
On Saturday, Shah had termed the SP as a party that stands for “Jinnah, Azam Khan and Mukhtar (Ansari)”, giving it the acronym ‘JAM’.
Attacking Yadav in his Lok Sabha constituency of Azamgarh, the Union minister had asked people to choose between SP’s JAM — Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, SP leader Azam Khan and gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari — and Bharatiya Janata Party’s JAM, which he spelt out as Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar card and mobile phones to eradicate poverty.
In the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used ‘JAM’ as a shorthand to publicise his vision of getting a ‘Jan Dhan Bank account, Aadhaar card and mobile phone’ to every person in the country.
“These people can never work for the welfare of Uttar Pradesh. These people do the politics of division,” the BJP leader had said while laying the foundation stone of a state university.
The former chief minister shot back on Sunday, saying that the “people of Uttar Pradesh have decided to change the government which has changed names and colours”.
“They have laid the foundation stone of a university in Azamgarh, but they should also mention its budget. A medical university that they have set up in the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee is running on the ninth floor of a medical college that was built by the SP. In addition, an agriculture university which was given to Azamgarh by the SP was taken to Gorakhpur by Babaji (an apparent reference to chief minister Yogi Adityanath who is also the chief priest of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur).”
“Futile and pointless engaging in discussion with a party leader who doesn’t hesitate while equating Pakistan founder Jinnah with a leader like Sardar Patel who united India,” UP BJP spokesman Navin Srivastava said.
