The Asian Age

BJP wants to take advantage of caste clash, says Akhilesh

Akhilesh says it pursues policy of divide and rule, Yogi denies charge Adityanath says saffron party would never do politics on caste or give patronage to any particular caste.

- AMITA VERMA

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Thursday that the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) government wanted to take advantage of the situation by making various caste groups fight among themselves.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath rubbished the charge and said that the BJP would never do politics on caste or give patronage to any particular caste.

The chief minister was in Gonda on Thursday to visit the flood- affected areas when he said, “There is a law to protect every citizen and the government will not allow misuse of any Act at any cost.”

Reacting to the Bharat Bandh call given by upper- caste organisati­ons against the amendment in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act, he said that such organisati­ons had no relevance and the Indian Constituti­on gives every citizen enough rights to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, Mr Yadav,

while referring to the Bharat Bandh call, said that injustice should not be done to any particular caste. “The BJP has always pursued the policy of divide and rule but we must be careful and not play into their hands,” he said.

Mr Yadav said that the BJP wanted to divert people’s attention from its failures on the developmen­t front and was using emotive issues to divide the people.

Mr Yadav was addressing members of the ex- servicemen cell of his party when he said that Mr Adityanath would not remain the chief minister after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

“The situation in Uttar Pradesh is going from bad to worse and the claimants for the chief minister’s post are intensifyi­ng their fight. One deputy chief minister is already holding caste conference­s and is very active in caste politics,” he said.

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 ??  ?? Akhilesh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav
 ??  ?? Yogi Adityanath
Yogi Adityanath

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