Farmers Movement Archive

Nadda fires salvo at Akhilesh over Jinnah & BJP vax remarks

Gorakhpur/Lucknow: BJP national president, J P Nadda on Monday fired a salvo at the Opposition, accusing it of speaking on Pakistan and its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, just when Uttar Pradesh elections were around the corner. “Woh Pakistan aur Jinnah ki baat karte hain aur hum Mahatma Gandhi aur Sardar Patel ki (They speak about Pakistan and Jinnah, while we speak of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel),” Nadda said, while Jspeaking at the booth-level convention in Gorakhpur. Nadda’s offensive comes days after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav compared Gandhi, Nehru and Patel with Jinnah, sparking a controversy. Nadda’s offensive comes days after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav compared Gandhi, Nehru and Patel with Jinnah, sparking a controversy. The BJP ranks, including CM Yogi Adityanath quickly latched onto the remark to blast the SP boss, accusing him of “minority appeasement”. The BJP chief’s comment also came a day after Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Siddhu reportedly called Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan a “Bada Bhai” (big brother), triggering sharp reactions from the BJP brass. Nadda’s acerbic reference to the “Jinnah remark” was seen as BJP’s attempt to lend a stunning blow to SP, which has been positioning itself aggressively against the saffron dispensation in the run-up to polls early next year. His statement held much political pertinence, especially in east UP, which is offers a contrast to the communally restive west UP region. The BJP president maintained while his party stood for “sanskritik rashtravad” (cultural nationalism) the opposition favoured “parivaarwad” (nepotism). Nadda also slammed the opposition for calling corona vaccine as “BJP’s vaccine”. “When Modi ji was saying he will give two vaccines, some people began saying that was a BJP vaccine or a Modi vaccine. Now, they are going around after getting inoculated with the same vaccine,” he said. The remark was also seen as a pointed reference to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had initially refused to get inoculated. Nadda scaled up the attack saying “after some time the red topis (caps) will also turn saffron”. The BJP chief also flayed the opposition for “posing” as farmer leaders. “They forget what PM Modi did for farmers. Before 2014, the agriculture budget was Rs20,000 crore. Under leadership of PM Modi, it has gone up to Rs 1.23 lakh crore,” he said. Nadda’s charge at the opposition comes four days after PM Modi announced his government’s decision to repeal the three farm laws which were at the centre of farmer protest. This also marked BJP’s counter charge at the opposition, amid farmers’ associations upping the ante while demanding legal guarantee for MSP and sacking of junior home minister Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son, Ashish, is an accused in Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which eight persons were killed. Nadda also lauded CM Yogi for bringing much-needed changes in the law and order front. “Earlier women were unsafe, but now criminals appeal in court to go to jail. Earlier, the mafia and rioters were powerful, but now they have forgotten gundai or fled the state,” he said.

The Times of India

2021-11-23

Lucknow