Lucknow: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday attacked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi , comparing him to a student who repeatedly fails examinations and comes up with a new excuse each time to explain the failure.
Invoking the Emergency imposed in 1975, Yogi questioned Congress’s credentials to lecture others on democracy. Referring to the 1990 police firing on Ram devotees in Ayodhya, he questioned SP’s claim to champion democracy.
The CM also accused SP president Akhilesh Yadav of turning his party into a “pichhlaggu” (junior partner) of Congress and obstructing the country’s development. “Congress and SP are not running a campaign to save democracy but an exercise to save their families,” Yogi said, alleging that both parties were driven by dynastic politics. He said a party that had curtailed democratic freedoms during the Emergency was now attempting to portray itself as the defender of democratic institutions. He also accused both Congress and SP of opposing the construction of the Ram temple and said their leaders had declined the invitation to attend the consecration ceremony at Ayodhya.
Yogi squarely accused Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) of attempting to undermine constitutional institutions after losing public support. Positioning BJP-led govt at the Centre as an alternative to what he described as the Congress era of instability and corruption, Yogi cited infrastructure expansion, welfare schemes, housing, healthcare, metro networks and national security initiatives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said BJP had decided to expose Congress, SP and their allies before the public, arguing that opposition parties were creating obstacles in the path of a developed India. Leading BJP’s ‘Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao’ march in Ghaziabad , Yogi slammed Congress over allegations concerning EVMs, Election Commission and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying that the opposition had developed a habit of blaming constitutional institutions for their electoral failures rather than introspecting.