Lucknow: Hitting out at the BJP for trying to whip up a controversy over his meeting inside a mosque near the Parliament House, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said he and his party stand with every faith that unites.“Since BJP is against uniting people, it will oppose our move,” he said.The BJP had attacked the SP accusing party chief Akhilesh Yadav of holding “a political meeting” inside a mosque near Parliament complex and took on Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav for her attire after photographs of their visit to the mosque surfaced on Wednesday. The SP functionaries had visited the mosque on the invite of party’s Rampur MP Mohibbullah Nadvi who had earlier served as Imam of the mosque before he contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election. They claimed that no political meeting was held inside the mosque.“Faith unites people. We are with the faith that unites everyone. SP respects all religions. The problem with the BJP is that they cannot stand anything that talks of uniting people. They want people to remain divided. BJP is a congregation of people full of negativity. BJP indulges in discrimination and politics of hate,” Akhilesh said. He said BJP’s reaction on the issue only cemented the SP’s charge that the party was against the PDA.“BJP govt has reversed all that the SP govt did for the weaver community and Pasmanda Muslims. If the BJP govt has any concern for the Pasmanda Muslims, they should immediately restore free electricity to weavers which was provided to them under the SP govt,” he said.SP functionaries described the row as an attempt by the BJP to shift people’s focus from the opposition’s uproar against anomalies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.“The way the govt officials in Bihar have been making a mockery of the revision of electoral rolls on social media, has left the BJP nervous. Now they want to divert everyone’s attention,” said an SP functionary in Lucknow.Rebutting allegations of BJP that SP MPs held a political meeting at the mosque, Prof Sudhir Panwar posted photographs in which top BJP brass, including the PM visited mosques in India. “Every time the BJP realises that people have started asking questions about poor governance, it resorts to politics of hate. When people started asking about Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts and 2 crore jobs annually, the BJP raised the ‘Mandir Masjid issue’. Now people are asking about SIR, BJP is talking about faith. People will not fall in BJP’s trap anymore,” he said.
