SP says Yogi government made a mockery of religion by holding cabinet meet at Kumbh

The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of making a mockery of religion by holding a cabinet meeting at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. During the Zero Hour at the Legislative Council, Samajwadi member Shatarudra Prakash stressed that clicking photographs while taking a holy dip at the Sangam after the recent cabinet meeting during Kumbh was a clear violation of the 'United Provinces Melas Rule, 1940.

The SP members also barged into the well of the House and raised slogans against the government for making a "mockery" of religion and culture. According to Prakash, Section 18 of the 'Uttar Pradesh Prayagraj Mela Pradhikaran Adhiniyam-2017' stated that collection of people for any purpose other than religious work was prohibited in the Kumbh area. "The holding of the cabinet meeting in the Kumbh Mela area is definitely a non-religious programme."

The Samajwadi MLC said the photographs of the cabinet ministers taking a holy dip in the Sangam and getting clicked were widely published on the electronic media. "The entire cabinet should have desisted from such a derogatory and non-serious behaviour," Prakash said. Leader of the House and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said there was no ban on holding cabinet meeting anywhere. Sharma also demanded that the SP members should apologise for "hurting religious sentiments".

The pictures were clicked at the 'selfie points' and the ones that have been published were taken by the media and they cannot be stopped from doing so, Sharma pointed out. Without taking names of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dinesh Sharma wondered if it was not wrong when senior Opposition leaders get clicked while taking the holy dip.

The deputy chief minister said words used by Prakash had "hurt the religious beliefs" and were also not befitting for use in the House. Sharma's comments were objected by the SP, leading to a war of words with the treasury benches and prompting the party members to barge into the well of the house.

Another minister, Mahendra Pratap Singh, was heard saying "astha par chot karna band karo (stop attacking faith)". Chairman Ramesh Yadav adjourned the house for 20 minutes. When the proceedings resumed, Leader of Opposition Ahmed Hasan alleged that the BJP government was only concerned with elections and "saffronising" all events and programmes.

(With inputs from agencies.)