Lucknow: Samjadwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s rebellion against the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh remained confined to Twitter once again, after he was absent from another statewide protest staged by his party against the deteriorating law and order situation, as well as the police action taken against its workers by the government.
The party was agitating against 25 issues, including the Unnao Rape victim issue, increment in diesel and petrol prices, law and order situation, harassment and fake cases against SP leaders, farmer issues, scrapping of EVMs, unemployment, and atrocities on minorities, fake encounters and health services, among other things.
The protests were carried out across district headquarters in the state and even turned violent in some areas, leaving many injured after police resorted to lathi charging. Referring to the ‘jungle raj’ in the state, SP MLA from Unnao, Sunil Singh Sajan said, “The UP government is sleeping, it needs to wake up. The crime graph is soaring high.”
On Thursday, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav, too, staged a protest under the banner of his newly founded political outfit, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia). However unlike the SP chief, he was present and actively participated in the demonstration.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Senior SP leader said, “Our party was once known for its protests, but with time and circumstances that has become rare now. However, in order to revive the party and its frontal organizations this Dharna was organised. This would not just energise the cadres but also give a message to the party members that the party stands with them at a time when they are being targeted by the ruling party.”
On Yadav’s absence from the protest, the leader said, “He will be seen on ground seen, we have bigger plans for him.”
The state-wide protests are also seen as a part of a strategy to revive the party cadre, specially the youth wings ahead of crucial by-polls on 13 assembly seats and the 2022 state assembly polls.
On the other hand, former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which parted ways after unfavorable results in the Lok Sabha Polls, is busy making all the equations right. The SP and BSP had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha Polls in alliance on 37 and 38 seats respectively, while three seats were given to junior alliance partner Rashtriya Lok Dal. Two seats of Amethi and Raebareli were left for Congress without any pre-poll alliance.
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