"Suggest Asana For Unemployment": Akhilesh Yadav Hits Out At PM Modi

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over lack of jobs in the country, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said it would be good for the unemployed people if the PM could suggest any "asana" (yoga posture). 

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about doing 'surya namaskar' for strengthening his back. It would be good if he could suggest a similar 'asana' to unemployed youngsters," he said. 

"Unemployment is rising in the country. The prime minister does not have any time to think about it. At least he could suggest an 'asana', " he added. 

PM Modi had hit out at opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, whom he dubbed as a "tubelight", saying it took him 30-40 minutes to respond to his speech in the Lok Sabha. 

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, the prime minister, in his reply to the discussion on the presidential address, referred to the Congress leader's comments about "youngsters beating up Modi with sticks over the lack of jobs", and said he would increase the number of "surya namaskar" so that his back could bear the sticks. 

"In these six months, I will do more surya namaskar so that my back is ready for the beating.... I have been subjected to abuses in the last 20 years, I will make myself gaali-proof as also danda-proof," PM Modi had said. 

Referring to the exit polls for Delhi Assembly elections, which have predicted a victory for the AAP, Mr Yadav said, "The residents of Delhi have rejected the politics of the BJP, which is full of hatred. The BJP, which has suffered defeats in a number of states, will not be able to open its account in the Delhi Assembly election and the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal will once again become the chief minister." 

Mr Yadav said that his party was completely against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

"The BJP is working with a sense of vengeance and harassing even those who are commenting on the social media. The SP is seeing this and such people are being identified. Once we form the government (in Uttar Pradesh), these people will be given a befitting reply, though we will not harass anyone."