Row over Lucknow Mayor’s remark against SP chief Akhilesh’s mother simmers on
Lucknow, April 22 (IANS) The controversy that erupted over Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharkwal’s purported remark aimed at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s late mother refuses to die down, with the former claiming SP activists staged an “abusive” protest at her house.
While Akhilesh Yadav has condemned her remark, Kharkwal on Wednesday alleged that she was attacked by people related to the party.
Reacting to the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Kharkwal had allegedly remarked that it was an “insult to the mother who gave birth to Akhilesh Yadav”.
Akhilesh Yadav, in turn, lashed out at the Lucknow Mayor on Tuesday, requesting that she not to invoke his late mother for “political compulsions”.
“In Indian society, the insult of anyone’s mother is never acceptable. Your political future would have been bright if you had not dragged it down to such low moral standards; today, even your supporters are ashamed. Those you are stooping to your level to influence are not close relatives of anyone. Maintain your dignity and balance as well,” he said in a post on X.
“Besides, you yourself are a woman. When a woman insults another woman, who will call you morally right,” Akhilesh Yadav added.
Issuing a clarification, Kharkwal said, “Please listen to my whole speech to know what I meant to say. After listening that you will realise what my intentions were and how it was interpreted. I am a mother myself, I have not said anything wrong for somebody else’s mother.”
Speaking to IANS, the Mayor said: “I had said that this ‘half population’ represents your mother, and you have insulted your mother. This ‘half population’ represents your sister, the one whose finger you held while learning to walk, and you have insulted that sister. This ‘half population’ represents your daughter, whose face brings relief after a tiring day, and you have insulted that daughter.”
Moreover, she alleged that she was attacked in the morning.
“Today, some people came to my house in the morning and raised ‘murdabad’ slogans, hit my nameplate with a shoe, and abused me. I do not want to say anything further. The kind of values their party has given them has been exposed by their actions,” she claimed.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party workers staged a demonstration outside the Mayor’s residence to protest her alleged remarks linked to the SP chief’s mother.
–IANS
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