Have full faith in judiciary, not in government: Akhilesh Yadav

With the BJP appointing 2018 Siyana violence accused as the Bulandshahr zonal president, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said his party has full faith in judiciary but not in the government.

The BJP recently made Sachin Ahlawat, accused of the violence in Mahav village of Siyana area in December 2018 on the rumour of alleged cow slaughter, as the mandal president of BB Nagar.

Siyana SHO Subodh Kumar Singh and a local youth were killed in the violence that happened in the course of a clash between the protestors and the police at that time.

''We have full faith in the judiciary but not in the government. The murderers of Bulandshahr will also be punished by the court. Like in Gujarat, the Supreme Court had reversed the decision of the government (regarding the Bilkis Bano case). Similarly, those facing charges in Bulandshahr will also be punished by the court,'' Yadav told the media on the sidelines of a meeting with party's present and former MLAs at the Samajwadi Party headquarters here.

The Samajwadi Party chief said he also hopes that the leaders of his party like Azam Khan, Irfan Solanki and Ramakant Yadav, who have been ''framed in fake cases'' will also get justice from the court.

Yadav, who discussed preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, when asked about the party's plans for Amethi and Rae Bareli -- the two seats considered as the Congress' strongholds -- said the participants in the meeting today gave their suggestions and added that he would deliberate on them.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who represented the Amethi Lok Sabha seat several times in the past, lost to Union minister Smriti Irani in 2019. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is an MP from Rae Bareli.

When asked if he would use the PDA ('pichra, dalit and alpsankhyak' -- backward classes, Dalits, minorities) formula in the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said the PDA will be used along with other formulas and accused the BJP government of being against the PDA.

''The BJP government will never give justice to them (PDA). It is against the basic concept of reservation. PDA is our god ('kisi ka koi bhagwan ho, humara to PDA bhagwan hai'),'' he stressed.

When asked about the meetings of the INDIA bloc on the issue of seat-sharing, Yadav said the suggestions will be given by the party and will also be taken.

Taking potshots at the Central government, he said, ''The BJP is saying 'Viksit Bharat Hoga', but can Bharat be developed without the improvement in income of the farmers. The economy will improve only when the farmers and the poor are happy.'' ''The farmers' income has not doubled. The youth are not getting respectable jobs. The SP is saying it will give respectable jobs and employment to them when it will get a chance in the country and the state,'' he added.

Escalating his attack on the BJP, Yadav said the law and order situation is dismal and there is loot at all levels -- be it police station, tehsil level or in the development works. ''This kind of loot has never been seen in UP. There is discrimination and no one to listen to the problems. We will together teach a lesson to the BJP,'' he said.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving a call to the countrymen to light 'diyas' on January 22, the day of the Ram temple consecration in Ayodhya, the SP chief said, ''The Samajwadis will be happy only when there is prosperity in the families of the poor and when their sons get jobs. Only then we will consider that the lamps are lit ('deep jale hain').

Responding to a poser on some religious leaders opposing the manner in which the consecration ceremony is being projected, Yadav said, ''My path is not of dharma. It is of removing inequality as shown by Ambedkar and Lohia. We will follow the path of struggle as shown by Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav.)'' When asked about VHP leader Alok claiming that an invitation to the 'pran pratistha' in Ayodhya has been sent to him, he said, ''I do not know him nor have 'parichay' with him, have perhaps never met him.''