"Chief Minister is scared of red colour," Akhilesh Yadav said, referring to colour of the party's caps
Akhilesh Yadav today promised a caste census within three months if his party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, giving people their rights according to their share in the population.
Addressing a rally during the "Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra" in UP's Mainpuri, the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader slammed the ruling BJP for "misusing" the enforcement agencies, calling them "BJP cells".
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is only good for changing the names of cities and inaugurating the "already inaugurated" projects. "Yogi is useful only for changing name, changing the colour, laying foundation stones, and inaugurating the already inaugurated projects," he said, adding, "The chief minister is scared of red colour."
"Red is the colour of revolution, emotions. These people of a single colour don't know these feelings. They don't even know that the colour of our blood is also red," he said, referring to colour of the SP's caps.
"We and you are accused of snatching someone's rights but everything will be clear from the caste census," he said at the rally in the SP stronghold.
"After the formation of the SP government, caste census will be conducted within three months and everyone will be given rights and respect according to their population," he said.
"People know that we have fulfilled all promises we made."
Some parties believe that a caste census will lead to an increase in the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in government jobs and educational institutions.
Weeks earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also led a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
Akhilesh Yadav alluded to the recent Income Tax searches at the premises of some of his party leaders and predicted an increased activity by agencies such as the Income Tax and the Enforcement Directorate as Assembly elections, due early next year, approach.
Referring to the poll alliance with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), he said, "As soon as we took his party along, BJP's IT cell, CBI cell, and ED cell became active from Delhi."
"As elections near and the fear of defeat haunts the BJP, they will come even more to Uttar Pradesh from Delhi," he said.
Shivpal Yadav's picture was on a banner at the rally, attended in large numbers by PSPL workers. The SP leader took a swipe at the BJP for starting its Jan Vishwas Yatras from multiple locations in Uttar Pradesh.
"Ever since the public started giving strong support to the SP rath yatra, the BJP is getting nervous. The result is that six raths of the BJP are coming out against SP's one rath which was more powerful than all of BJP's," he said.
The former Chief Minister accused the BJP of spending government money on organising party rallies. In contrast, he said, people had spent their own money to reach the event he was addressing.
He blamed the BJP government for the rise in fuel prices and said that the party is filling the coffers of the rich by picking the pockets of the poor.
Referring to the UP government's past decisions, he said Yogi Adityanath is the first chief minister to withdraw cases against himself.