Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and his supporters were allegedly stopped from garlanding the statue of the socialist icon Jai Prakash Narayan, installed at the JNIC in Lucknow leading to a showdown between the former CM and the BJP. A report by Mudit Mathur
A political controversy erupted after the police stopped Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his thousands of supporters from garlanding the statue of the socialist icon Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, installed in Jayaprakash Narayan Interpretation Centre (Museum of Socialism) in Lucknow. Yadav blamed Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state for the incident.
The BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath stopped Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his thousands of supporters from garlanding the statue of the socialist icon Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, installed in Jayaprakash Narayan Interpretation Centre (Museum of Socialism) in Lucknow on the occasion of his birth anniversary by using heavy police force and putting up barricades on approach roads right from his residence.
“On the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan ji, we go to the JPNIC museum to celebrate. But I don’t know why this government stops us. This blockade by the BJP is not the first. It has blocked all good work,” Yadav told the media.“Today, standing on the road, we are paying tributes to the ‘Jan Nayak’. This government wants to stop us from garlanding but we have done it here on the road itself,” he told the gathering. Last year, Akhilesh Yadav and his supporters jumped the closed gate of JPNIC and garlanded his statue on his birth anniversary.
“Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has an opportunity to withdraw support from a government which does not allow ‘Samajwadi’ (socialists) to pay respects to JP on his anniversary and remember him. This government is insulting the socialists,” said Yadav, reminding the JD(U) chief (Kumar) that he owed his political emergence to the JP movement.
“Whether it is the BJP people or their government, their every action is a symbol of negativity. To prevent the Samajwadi people from garlanding the statue of JP Narayan Ji on his birth anniversary like last time, barricades have been put up around our private residence to stop them,”Akhilesh posted on X in Hindi.
“The BJP has always been against freedom fighters and the freedom movement. They have learnt from the colonial powers and supported them secretly. Everyone is saying today that they don’t want the BJP,” Yadav said. The SP chief accused the BJP of creating hurdles in the path of harmony, peace, reservation, farmers’ welfare, women’s safety, youth development, employment generation, and development of PDAs (Pichhde, Dalit and Alpsankhyak).
Samajwadi Party escalated a political row over garlanding the statue of socialist icon and leader of the 1942 Quit India movement, Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narayan, who also spearheaded a mass movement named “Total Revolution” against the dictatorship of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi for imposing an “Internal Emergency” in the country by snatching fundamental rights of the citizen.
Samajwadi Party leader ST Hasan hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the issue. “Every Indian is proud of Jai Prakash Narayan and the SP has the right to celebrate his birth anniversary. I can’t understand why they don’t want to let us celebrate his birth anniversary,” Hasan said. “Looks like they will celebrate Godse’s birth anniversary and not of freedom fighters. We are ashamed of this government and their conduct. We condemn how Akhilesh Yadav is being stopped,” he added.
Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Malhotra says, “…JPNIC was built during Samajwadi Party govt… On his (Jai Prakash Narayan) birth anniversary, we wanted to garland his statue to pay tribute. But the BJP government isn’t allowing this… But we will do this by breaking all the barricades put up by the BJP govt. The BJP government can’t silence us through suppression, injustice and dictatorship…”
JD (U) national spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad called Yadav’s remarks “bizarre”. “It is a bizarre remark from Akhilesh Yadav who does politics in the name of JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), but never cares for the principles of the late leader who fought against dynasty rule all his life”, he observed. He also criticized Congress leader Pawan Khera for endorsing Yadav’s statement, reminding him, “It is the Congress which had caused untold miseries to JP and his followers”.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that the Samajwadi Party had forgotten the ideals of Jai Prakash Narayan, and further alleged that after defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, the entire “INDI alliance” is resorting to a ”political stunt.” Bhandari said, “Akhilesh Yadav is doing politics. The LDA notice that has been issued makes it very clear that the construction is incomplete.”
“If Akhilesh Yadav had truly good intentions, he could have paid tribute to Jai Prakash Narayan even from his office. Today, the SP has forgotten Narayan’s ideals. If they had followed those ideals, they wouldn’t have allied with the Congress party,” Bhandari added.
