UP Polls: Akhilesh Yadav said Azam Khan was sent to jail on false charges. (File)
Taking a swipe at the ruling BJP, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said while Azam Khan is in jail for building a university, a Union minister's son is out on bail in a case pertaining to the killing of farmers, and mockingly said this is the "new India" of the BJP.
He also claimed that the voting in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls has given enough indications that the BJP will be wiped out from the state.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, in a case of violence in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed.
Addressing an election meeting in Rampur in favour of Mr Khan and other SP candidates, Mr Yadav said, "Even if the BJP performs 700 squats, the farmers will not forgive the party." He said Mr Khan's son Abdullah Azam had to languish in jail for two years on false cases.
"Azam Khan was also sent to jail on false charges. Cases of buffalo theft, chicken theft and theft of books were lodged against him. But the man who crushed farmers under the wheels of a jeep has come out of jail. This is the new India of the BJP," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added.
"The man who built a university for you, fought for your rights and honour, was sent to jail. And the man who crushed farmers using a jeep has been sent out of jail. Nowhere in the world, farmers have been crushed by a jeep. But since the Uttar Pradesh polls are here, he has got bail and is out," he said.
Mr Khan got the Jauhar University built in Rampur. He is currently lodged in the Sitapur jail on various charges.
The SP has fielded Mr Khan from the Rampur Assembly segment and his son from the Suar constituency in the district. Rampur will vote on February 14.
"People were waiting for March 10 for the election results, but the way voting took place in the first phase (on Thursday), it seems that the results were out by yesterday evening," he said.
"In the first phase of polling, people from different sections of the society including farmers, have wiped out the BJP and whatever is left (of the party), will be wiped out in the second phase from Saharanpur to Rampur," Mr Yadav said.
He also claimed that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been saying that he has distributed laptops among youngsters, but not a single laptop has been given to anyone in Rampur.
"BJP leaders lie a lot. The first time they had lied was during demonetisation, when they had said the move will curtail corruption. Corruption could not be curtailed, but it doubled during the double-engine government," he said in a reference to the BJP being in power both at the Centre and in the state, and urged people to vote for the SP-RLD alliance.