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Yogi Adiyanath’s language changed as BJP is set to lose in U.P.: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday targetted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his “abba jaan” jibe, saying the BJP leader changed his language as the saffron party was destined to be “wiped out” in the 2022 assembly polls.

“The BJP is destined to go. That’s why the ‘mukhiya’ [head] of the government has changed his language. The people want change and prosperity,” Yadav said in a press conference in Lucknow.

Though he did not directly mention the “abba jaan” remarks made by Adityanath on Sunday, Yadav referred to the Chief Minister’s trip to Kushinagar where he made the controversial comment. “People are asking questions. So they are deliberately changing their language. It’s certain the BJP is going to be wiped out in U.P.,” he asserted.

On Sunday, Adityanath said that prior to his government’s formation in 2017, the ration meant for the poor would get ‘digested’ by those who uttered “abba jaan”. This led to a reaction on social media. Several users condemned his words and accused him of making communal references and shared posts about their fathers.

In several parts of India, Muslims use the phrase “abba jaan” to refer to their fathers or as an endearment. However, in the recent context in the State’s politics, Adityanath’s remark was also seen as an attack on Akhilesh Yadav and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, whom the right-wing led by BJP-RSS have for decades accused of minority appeasement, especially in the context of the firing on ‘karsevaks’ trying to break into the Babri Masjid enclosure in Ayodhya under his government in 1990.

Speaking at an official function in Kushinagar, Adityanath, while taking a swipe at the alleged “appeasement” by previous governments, had said that now the BJP did not look at anyone’s face before providing them benefits likes toilets or grains. “Are you getting ration? Did you get this ration prior to 2017? Back then, those who say ‘abba jaan’ would digest all the ration. Kushinagar’s ration would end up in Nepal and Bangladesh. If today anyone tries to swallow the ration of the poor, that person will land in jail,” he claimed.

The SP ruled U.P. from 2012 to 2017. In a recent interview to a television channel, when asked about the work done in the State since 2017, Adityanath took a swipe at Mulayam Singh Yadav and referred to the firing on the ‘karsevaks’ in 1990 under his tenure when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was at its peak, and the ongoing construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“His ‘abba jaan’ would say that he would not allow even a bird to fly [around the Babri Masjid enclosure],” Adityanath said, boasting that the BJP had fulfilled its promise of building a Ram mandir.