No martyrs from Gujarat, says Akhilesh, faces criticism

SAMAJWADI PARTY chief Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday appeared to question the patriotism of people of Gujarat when he said no soldier from the state got martyred, a remark BJP claimedstemmedfrom“frustration”. Akhilesh, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, was criticised by the Gujarat units of Congress and BJP.

“UP, Madhya Pradesh, Dakshin Bharat har jagah se shaheed huye hain, Gujarat ka koi jawan shaheed hua ho toh batao (Jawans from UP, Madhya Pradesh, South India and other parts of the country have sacrificed their lives but tell me whether anyone has been martyred from Gujarat),” Akhilesh said.

Withoutnamingthebjp,hesaid,“theyplay politicsinthenameofmartyrs,vandematram and nationalism. What is their definition (of nationalism)? They do not even consider us Hindus.” He was apparently targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reacting to the comments, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani in a statement said: “I condemn the views expressed by former UP chief minister on martyrs today. Such a statement is anti-gujarat.”

“Yadav is making such statement out of frustration, as his party faced a humiliating defeat in UP,” Rupani said.

Three soldiers from Gujarat have laid down their lives in the line of duty this year. In January, two soldiers, Sunil Patel of Panchmahal district and Deva Parmar of Bhavnagar were killed in an avalanche in J&K. In February, Lance Naik Gopal Singh Bhadoria, a resident of Ahmedabad, was martyred in a fierce gun-battle with terrorists in J&K.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said it was because of failure of the BJP government at the Centre that so many soldiers have been martyred. “It is wrong to play politics over the martyrdom of our brave soldiers. They belong to the country, fight for the country...” he said.

Reacting to Akhilesh’s statement, UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, “His talk and politics have been discarded by the people. That is the reason why he is making such statements in frustration.”