Not just Ram Temple, but I will also visit Vrindavan: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav at a press conference, in Lucknow on Wednesday. (ANI)

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said he would not only offer prayers at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in the coming weeks but will also visit Vrindavan in Mathura.

A party leader had recently announced that Yadav would be visiting the Ayodhya temple on December 12.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Akhilesh said the party’s PDA slogan was also “Pehle Darshan, Phir Ashirwad” (First Darshan, Then Blessings).

Reacting to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath‘s statement that the upcoming election would be 80 percent versus 20 percent, hinting at an electoral fight between the majority and minority communities in thee state, the former CM said, “The upcoming election is between 95 percent and 5 percent. The 95 percent are a harassed and exploited lot while 5 percent are the oppressors backed by the BJP government.”

On CM Adityanath’s recent statement that 1.27 crore votes were deleted during the SIR in the state, he said, “If so many votes have been deleted, then the Chief Minister should stand by the questions raised by the Samajwadis during the SIR. He should support the questions raised by the Samajwadis.”

Demanding that the voter lists be linked with Aadhaar cards, Yadav said that Aadhaar cards should be made of metal so that fake cards cannot be created.

“Everyone has an Aadhaar card and biometric details, so why are voter lists not being linked with Aadhaar? When there is talk of Digital India and of becoming equal with the rest of the world, then why voter lists are not being linked with Aadhaar cards,” he said.

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Reiterating the allegation that the BJP wins elections through electoral malpractice, he said the BJP wanted to commit irregularities during the SIR, but SP workers and ‘PDA praharis’ managed to save their votes.

Alleging that all records of corruption have been broken under the BJP government, Akhilesh said, “Tenders worth Rs 17,500 crore under UPEIDA (Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority) were distributed among themselves through mutual collusion. Massive looting of government funds is going on under this government which has closed 26,000 primary schools and deprived the children of poor families of education. It has reduced lakhs of jobs in the Education Department.”

The BJP government makes tall claims about investments, but not a single factory or industry has been established anywhere in the state, he claimed.

The SP chief said the BJP government has ruined the police system and the general public has lost faith in the force.