LUCKNOW: With the 2022 UP Assembly elections inching closer, political parties have started wooing the voters through various promises. The latest is the Samajwadi Party (SP) which promised a grand temple of Vishwakarma on the banks of the Gomti river if voted to power in 2022.
Slamming the ruling BJP for insulting the entire Vishwakarma community by withdrawing the Vishwakarma Jayanti holiday, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party would restore the holiday on Vishwakarma Puja if it came to power in UP.
Akhilesh was speaking at a Vishwakarma Jayanti programme organised by the All India Vishwakarma Mahasabha at the SP office in Lucknow on Thursday.
It may be recalled that after assuming charge in UP, Yogi Adityanath had shortened the list of state holidays including the Vishwakarma Jayanti. He had said that schools and offices should be opened on those days and programmes should be organised to make people aware of the contributions made by those personalities.
“There is also a training institute for BJP people and it teaches them to spread lies. The chief minister did away with the Vishwakarma Jayanti holiday, he has insulted the entire Vishwakarma society. It was our SP government that announced a holiday on Vishwakarma Puja. Hanuman’s mace (gada) and Krishna’s wheel were made by Vishwakarma community…,” said Akhilesh.
However, attacking the BJP on the incessant rains lashing the state for the last two days, the SP chief said: “There was heavy damage and loss of life due to rain in Uttar Pradesh. The government has not made any arrangements. This government is about to leave, it will be wiped out. Every section of society has been humiliated by this government. This government has made a record of lies.”
Further attacking the BJP government, Akhilesh said, “The government is only busy changing the names. Where did the dream of a USD 5 trillion economy go? The chief minister had talked about the target of a USD 1 trillion economy, where is it? Big MoUs were signed in Lucknow.”
He launched a broadside on BJP government over its Covid management saying countless had died of corona in Uttar Pradesh, there was no oxygen and no beds in the hospitals. “The ambulance started by the SP government came in handy during the corona period. Lockdown was imposed in such a way that many poor people lost their lives. The government did not impose lockdown at the right time. Corpses were flowing in Ganga,” said the SP chief
The SP chief reiterated the alleged misuse of EVMs in Bihar assembly elections and accused the administrative machinery to have played to the diktats of the ruling dispensation.
He cautioned his workers to be alert against the alleged misuse of EVMS in UP elections saying the BJP had its “e-Ravans" sitting on social media and people will have to be aware of dirty tricks ahead of the 2022 UP polls.