Facing the Opposition’s onslaught over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday invoked the recent murder in Hathras to take a dig at Samajwadi Party.
Referring to red caps worn by Samajwadi Party members, Adityanath said in the Assembly: “Yeh Hathras ki ghatna ne topi ko phir se kadhghare mein khara kiya hai… Kal Hathras mein jo durbhagya-purna ghatna ghatit hui, kya Samajwadi Party ka us apradhi se koyi sambandh nahi hai?… Har aparadhi ke saath, samajwadi shabda kyon joor jata hai, main yahi puchna chahta hun. Yeh kaun si sthiti, kaun si majboori hai? (The Hathras incident has once again put the caps in a dock… Is there no link of Samajwadi Party to yesterday’s unfortunate incident that took place in Hathras?… Why Samajwadi word is associated with every criminal… I just want to ask this… Why the situation is such? What is the helplessness?)”
The Chief Minister was referring to the murder of a 50-year-old man in Hathras on Monday, allegedly by a man accused of molesting his daughter two years ago. Since the incident came to light, the BJP has been alleging that the main accused is associated with Samajwadi Party (SP). The SP, however, has denied the claim.
After the Chief Minister’s remark, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary, who belongs to the Samajwadi Party, claimed that he too had photos of the accused with one of the BJP MPs.
To this, the Chief Minister asked if the accused had put up posters for Samajwadi Party.
“While once socialist leaders like Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash, Lohia were respected, the samajwadi (socialist) movement has now been turned into an impractical, non-social and inhuman movement,” the Chief Minister said.