Mulayam, Akhilesh come on same stage
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday shared the stage with his son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav and party national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav at a rally in New Delhi, in an apparent setback to his brother Shivpal Yadav.
Shivpal had floated a separate outfit, Samajwadi Secular Morcha (SSM), in August and said that Mulayam would contest next year’s Lok Sabha polls under his outfit’s banner. The SP patriarch, however, did not indicate any support for Shivpal.
Sunday’s event marked the first time in two years that Mulayam shared a political platform with Akhilesh and Ramgopal. A power feud had begun in the SP two years back with both Shivpal and Akhilesh vying for control.
Attending the concluding event of the SP cycle rally at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Mulayam asked party workers to make sure that the Samajwadi Party formed the government in Uttar Pradesh (in 2022) and had a share in Delhi politics (in 2019).
He also urged party workers not to indulge in corruption and said the country, farmers and youth would be empowered only when the SP was strong.
“There are over two crore unemployed people in the country. I asked the prime minister what happened to the promise of providing jobs and ₹15 lakh to the account of each citizen in the country. I told him he had betrayed the people and formed the government based on lies. There is no difference between Samajwadi Party’s promises and actions,” Mulayam said.
“I will also tell Akhilesh to involve women in various committees and have them at various party levels starting from blocks,” he said.
Demanding a caste census in UP, Akhilesh said: “Social justice in the state is possible only when there is a caste census.”
He alleged that hospitals in the state treated patients based on their caste and, the police took action after determining the caste of the complainants.
“It was said that demonetisation will check corruption, wipe out black money, and cut down terrorism and Naxalism. All are intact. About 50,000 farmers have committed suicide till now and lakhs of factories have been closed down,” he said.
“There are no employment opportunities. Sugarcane farmers are an unhappy lot as their dues are still pending and the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath) says that excess production of sugarcane causes diabetes,” Akhilesh added.
He said the CM asked the people to chant ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ to get rid of monkey menace but 2019 (Lok Sabha elections) would determine who would run away and who would stay.
On the row over Rafale fighter aircraft deal, Akhilesh demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and said without it truth would not come out.