Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday alleged that efforts were being made to reduce the country’s minorities, especially Muslims, to “second-grade citizens”, and that their properties, including places of worship, were being “grabbed”.
Speaking in Lok Sabha during a debate on 75 years of the Constitution, Yadav, flagging the issues of the PDA — Pichda (backwards), Dalit (scheduled castes), and Alpasankhyak (minorities) — also said a “karo ya maro (do or die) movement was needed to save the Constitution today. The slogan marked the beginning of the Quit India Movement against the British.
In his speech, Yadav accused the government of neglecting the minorities and said, “Atrocities are increasing on them (minorities)… Their properties are being looted, they are being killed, their houses are being demolished and their places of worship are being grabbed with the help of the administration.”
Yadav highlighted how people were stopped from exercising their right to vote. Referring to the recent Assembly bypoll in the minority-dominated seat of Meerapur, UP, he said, “People across the country would have seen that photograph showing a police officer, on the direction of UP government, stopping women from casting vote and threatening them by showing a revolver.”
Drawing parallels with authoritarian regimes, Yadav said: “This system is rapidly heading towards dictatorship… Hitler, too, after getting elected by the people amended the constitution and established a dictatorship. Our government is also trying to move parallel to the same.”
Yadav also alleged that in today’s situation, freedom of expression meant “deshdroh (sedition)” and “if you are not with the BJP’s opinion and belong to another religion, you are entitled to (be) torture(d).” “And now there is a problem in worship too. Because elements searching for a temple under every mosque do not want peace in the country and they do not care about the law,” he said.
Yadav alleged the government was taking care of “only 10 per cent” of the population and that disparity had increased in the country after 2014. He said that of the country’s 140 crore population, 82 crore were still surviving on government ration while 2/3rd of the country’s total assets were occupied by a few families”.
Why should you buy our Subscription?
You want to be the smartest in the room.
You want access to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t want to be misled and misinformed.
Choose your subscription package
