‘Akhilesh talking about Ayodhya is a joke’: UP ministers on SP chief criticising demolition drive

Lucknow, Sep 23 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Ministers on Wednesday lashed out at the Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav after the latter condemned the demolition drive in Ayodhya, referring to the SP Chief’s remarks about the temple town as a “joke”.

Addressing a press conference earlier on Wednesday, Akhilesh Yadav said: “I have said this before and I say it again, we can never become an obstacle in the development of Ayodhya and the development of the city of Lord Ram. When the opportunity comes to the Samajwadis, we will make Ayodhya a world-class city.”

“But what we are seeing now is that poor people are being uprooted on a large scale. Their livelihood is being taken away and they are being treated with discrimination,” he alleged.

Responding to the SP Chief’s remarks, Uttar Pradesh Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar asked Akhilesh Yadav to introspect what the situation in Ayodhya was when the SP was in power.

“If illegal constructions have come up on the roads, efforts are being made to clear them. That is also causing them (Samajwadi Party) discomfort. If people are encroaching on the roads, then who will remove it?…the (Utttar Pradesh) government’s intention is to carry out development and to properly arrange paths for people,” Rajbhar told IANS.

Uttar Pradesh Minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary accused the Samajwadi Party of spreading “negative agenda”.

“Misleading people is the Samajwadi Party’s agenda. When the party was in power, there used to be rampant corruption, land seizures, and prevalence of ‘Mafias’. Today, Akhilesh ji is doing politics through social media, and is furthering his agenda of misleading society. The people of Uttar Pradesh and the country know everything, and they will not allow his plan to divide society along caste lines to succeed,” Chaudhary told IANS.

Echoing similar views, Uttar Pradesh Minister Narendra Kashyap said: “Whenever Akhilesh Yadav talks about Ayodhya’s development, it feels like a joke to the people.”

Talking to IANS, Kashyap said: “During the tenure of the Samajwadi Party, bullets were fired over Karsevaks who sacrificed their lives for the construction of the Ram Temple. Then there was that era when, under the Samajwadi Party government, Ayodhya was reduced to a dilapidated town. Today, the current Uttar Pradesh-led Yogi Adityanath government has transformed Ayodhya.”

“Only after taking the consent and suggestions of the residents, has the pace of development work been accelerated, establishing Ayodhya as a world-class city today,” the Minister added.

Uttar Pradesh Minister Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’ also said: “…What connection do those (Samajwadi Party) who fired bullets at the Ram Bhakts of Ram Mandir have with Ayodhya’s development? For years, these 9Samajwadi Party) people had left Ayodhya abandoned like an orphan… They don’t like a clean and tidy Ayodhya, they don’t like the clean and tidy Baba Vishwanath Corridor.”

–IANS

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