Parties are of people, not of any religion, says Akhilesh

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said “parties are of people and not of any religion”, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress, asking if it was a “party for Muslim men only”.

Modi made the comment while attacking the Congress on the triple talaq issue in Azamgarh on Saturday.

In response, Akhilesh on Monday asked: “Going by that logic, will the PM call Samajwadi Party, the party of backward Hindus? (Political) parties are of people, and not of any religion.”

The SP chief was addressing a contingent of bicyclists who arrived here from Allahabad after participating in the party’s ‘Dalit Chetna, Yuva Chetna Yatra’.

Akhilesh also said he would embark on a cycle yatra in the state once the Lok Sabha election schedule was announced.

Stating that the Purvanchal

Expressway was his government’s brainchild, Akhilesh said that his party men were taking out the cycle yatra to remove misconceptions and counter the propaganda of BJP which is “claiming credit” for it.

The party on Sunday had announced that SP youth wings will participate in a cycle yatra from Ballia to Lucknow from July 26 to August 5

“The BJP has started campaigning and the PM is also on the campaign trail. The PM should tell when the elections are going to be held as he might be knowing it,” the SP chief said.

On the SP-BSP tie up, Akhilesh said, “After the SP- BSP understanding, the PM’s body language has changed. I have stopped listening to his speeches, but I see how he moves his hands during speeches.”

He took a jibe at Modi for starting his Azamgarh speech in Bhojpuri with a teleprompter in front of him.

“He speaks any language by looking at the teleprompter in front of him. Now, I too will start speaking different languages with the aid of a teleprompter,” he said.