Varanasi: The parties of ‘UP ke ladke’ (boys of UP -Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi), who had come together in 2017 assembly polls but snapped the tie in 2019 parliamentary polls, have crossed swords with each other in Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
While the local unit of the minority cell of Congress indulged in waging a poster war against Akhilesh questioning his silence over the recent alleged police action on Muslim women during protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the SP leaders advised Congress to fight for its own survival instead of exposing desperation by doing such things.
Just before the visit of the SP’s fact-finding committee to Azamgarh on Saturday some posters appeared on the walls showing the image of Akhilesh with a tape pasted on his lips. The poster also has an inscription in Hindi – “CAA aur NRC Virodhi pradarshan ke daruan Muslim mahilaon par hui policia barbarta par Akhilesh Yadav kyon chup hain? Akhilesh Yadav 2019 ke chunaon ke baad se Azamgarh se lapata hain” (Why Akhilesh Yada is silent on police brutality on Muslim women during anti CAA/NRC demonstration? Akhilesh Yadav has been missing in Azamgarh after 2019 polls).
An SP delegation isited Bilariaganj in Azamgarh district on Saturday to meet the affected families and take first-hand account of the incident. When asked about the poster war, senior SP leader and former minister Ram Murti Verma said that the act showed that Congress has lost its conscience. “We don’t want to say anything about Congress, but like to advise that they should work hard for their own survival,” said Verma.
He said that the committee on the direction of the party president met the people to know their sufferings. The report would be submitted to the SP chief on Sunday, he said adding that the committee came to know that Muslim women started peaceful protest against CAA and NRC on February 4, but they were assaulted by police on February 5 to end the protest. Several persons including women suffered injuries, and 19 persons were sent to jail.
