Akhilesh digs out ‘facts’ to counter Modi’s ‘lies’
LUCKNOW:Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday presented “hard facts” to prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “kabristaan and shamshaan” remarks were nothing but “lies”.
At an election rally in Fatehpur on Sunday, Modi accused the SP government of practising discrimination on the basis of religion.
“If you create ‘kabristaan’ (graveyard) in a village, a ‘shamshaan’ (cremation ground) should also be created. If uninterrupted power supply is given in Ramzan, it should be given on Diwali too. ‘Bhedbhaav nahin hona chahiye’ (there should be no discrimination),” Modi had said.
Addressing a rally in Unchahar on Monday, Akhilesh said: “We believe in the Ganga. We believe in truth. When I say something by lifting my hand towards the Ganga, we say the truth. People around him (Modi) misinform him, and he speaks lies. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. We have worked for ‘kabristaan’ and ‘shamshaan’ and power supply on Diwali and Ramzan without discrimination. We made power supply a 24-hour affair.”
Akhilesh evoked cheers when he invoked the Ganga to indicate that Modi was lying.
Countering the PM’s charge with proof, Team Akhilesh dug out government orders and his twitter posts that “show the dis- crimination charge has no truth”. The tweets and government orders are related to Hindu cremation grounds and power supply during Diwali. CM Office, GoUP tweet of February 24, 2015 announced ₹100-crore budgetary provision for cremation grounds in rural areas. Another tweet, which was posted on October 2016 from the same twitter handle hash-tagged ‘Deepawali’, spoke about Diwali arrangements in the state regarding “power supply according to proper roster, security and safety”.
The SP government also issued data to prove its point: “Last year, Eid was on July 6 and supply was 13,500 MW. On Diwali, which was from October 28 to November 1, supply for 24 hours on all the five days in both urban and rural areas was to the tune of 15,400 MW.”
AKHILESH HITS OUT AT BIG B WITH DONKEY JAB
CM Akhilesh Yadav had a piece of advice for megastar Amitabh Bachchan, “don’t advertise for the donkeys of Gujarat.”
Without taking any name, he referred to the advertisement in which Bachchan, the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism, is seen inviting tourists to visit the Wild Ass Sanctuary located in Little Rann of Kutch in the state.
“Ek gadhe ka vigyapan aata hai. Main iss sadi ke sabse bade mahanayak se kahunga ke ab aap Gujarat ke gadhon ka prachar mat kariye (There’s an ad on TV which shows donkeys. I appeal to century’s biggest star, please stop endorsing the donkeys of Gujarat),” Akhilesh said.