Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav for the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar.
During the Yatra, Akhilesh took a veiled jibe at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat for his recent remarks claiming that the people of India had the “same DNA for 40,000 years”, PTI reported.
At the RSS centenary function, Bhagwat had also said that “everyone in Akhand Bharat is a Hindu”.
“We have been saying that our fight for social justice is 5,000 years old. But only recently we got to learn that it dates back to 40,000 years,” Yadqav said, addressing a rally in Bihar’s Arrah town.
The rally took place under the Rahul’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, which is on the final day of its third leg in the state.
Akhilesh said that the Opposition parties “must pull up our socks”. The SP chief stated that while the Opposition talks about “5000 years of social inequality”, the BJP and RSS say that the existing order “is 40,000 years old”.
Akhilesh said that the BJP had faced defeat in the last year’s Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh’s Awadh, adding that it was now time to “drive them (BJP) out from Magadh (Bihar).”
Akhilesh also backed Tejashwi for forming the next government in Bihar, saying that his party would “cooperate fully” with the RJD leader for the upcoming Assembly polls in the state. “May he form the next government and take Bihar on the path to progress,” Akhilesh said.
Akhilesh also spoke about the US imposing 50 per cent tariffs on India, including 25 per cent additional tariffs for the purchase of Russian oil.
“It seems the tariffs have been slapped on the mouths of the BJP as well,” the SP chief said. He claimed that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre had “tried to intimidate” the Opposition, but was “scared of (President Donald) Trump.”