India News’ Manch, welcomed the most awaited guest for the evening, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the National President of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, to discuss the Samajwadi Party’s performance across the state of Uttar Pradesh and their politics from across UP as well as the rest of the country.
Manch offers a platform for high-level discussions on the major issues of the day, ranging from the new budget introduced by the newly formed NDA government to the recent issues that the country is facing to the plans for the future, of the Viksit Bharat of 2047 with the political elites of the country. The session is moderated by Ms. Priya Sahgal, editorial director, NewsX.
#IndiaNewsManch | ‘BJP lost in Ayodhya because people were against the party’ says Former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav@yadavakhilesh
Watch the conclave live on NewsX:https://t.co/1i4wztUJjZ#itvnetwork #IndiaNews #NewsX #conclave #Congress #IndiaNewsManch #AkhileshYadav #UP pic.twitter.com/jAf4hrxvtJ
— NewsX World (@NewsX) July 29, 2024
Akhilesh Yadav on PDA
As she begins the discussion, Priya Sahgal pokes fun at how the public in Delhi interpreted Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA as a public display of affection, explaining that although it was initially misinterpreted, people eventually showed him the affection he deserved as reflected in the results of the General assembly elections for the year 2024 where the Samajwadi party garnered the most number of votes. She went on to ask him about the strategy for the same, to which, he responded that the Samajwadi Party did not operate with the support of the Bharataiya Janata Party, it had to create PDA because of the wrong decisions and strategies by the Bharatiy Janata Party. “As they said that they were working for the poor and the youth, if they really were working for the youth and the poor, they wouldn’t have lost in UP with such a huge difference. Even though Prime Minister has one, but if you count the votes, its not only BJP that has lost the election but even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lost,” Akhilesh Yadav elaborated that BJP’s win in the elections is not exactly a win but a loss if one takes a look at their vote count. He further added that the people who were not given their rghtful respect after independence, PDA aims to fight for their rights and their deserved dignity, so now when the various parties are talking about the caste census, it is PDA itself that is going to get its righful respect, these include the Dalits and all the minority communities that need a voice for their concerns, which is why, he explained, that the public had accepted PDA and rejected BJP and this was the reason that the result in the state of Uttar Pradesh came out to be good.
Priya Sahgal went on to praise Yadav and stated that if Rahul Gandhi was the leader of Opposition, Akhilesh Yadav was the thought leader of Opposition. She further went on to ask him his perception on the backroom strategy that he employed to drive the Opposition.
“I had no strategy. There was a lot of clarity in the wotk that we wanted to do. We wanted to bring BJP’s incapabilities in front of the people which eventually, as Congress joied forces with us, resulted in a national narrative where we fought against the mistakes and the wrong-doings of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” He added as he praised the coordination between the two party leaders even when the alliance of one of the parties was not as strong.
Priya Sahgal then asked about how the two parties worked together and what Yadav meant when he said Samajwadi Party had worked well with Congress this time. Yadav took the opportunity to address that the Samajwadi Party had worked with several parties and tha experience had come in handy for them for this alliance and collaboration.
Leader of Opposition according to Akhilesh Yadav
Talking about the leader of Opposition, Priya mentioned how Akhilesh Yadav is always amongst first to receive the invitation for rallies of those like Mamata Banerjee or Jagan Mohan Reddy, she pressed on the question as to who is the glue in the opposition.
Yadav revealed his diplomatic stance which resulted from his previous alliance with the Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC). He pressed that the Samajwadi party had been maintaining its alliance with the previous parties that it had collaborated with as well as maintaining its new alliances with the Congress party. “This is the way of working for the people of the Samajwadi party and this is the reason there has been noconflict between anybody.” He further went on to talk about Jagan Mohan reddy and stated that the governments come in to power and then go. He talked about hpw several projects started by the Bahujan Samaj should have stopped when Samajwadi Party had come to power in the state of Uttar Pradesh but it didn’t and that the party stood steadfast with the other party when it faced crisis and ensured that no injustice was done like the previous times. “We have been fighting against injustice and whenever a leader is faced with unjust measures, Samajwadi Party will stand by them,” he said.
Forthcoming bypolls
Priya Sahgal steered the conversation in the direction of the bypolls as she asked Yadav about the division between the Congres and the Samajwadi Party and the number of seats that will given to each party.
“What’s there to think, BJP is going to lose, and it is because of the byelections that there has been no shift or change in the power because it is still due, the legislator is still not satisfied by the results, even the BJP’s prominent leaders are not satisfied, there are just passing the time,” he stated as he claimed that the Delhi government is not going to last much longer and is bound to fall doon enough. He further extended the offer to anybody who wanted to join the party and make something out of themselves. “The offer is open. This is the monsoon offer, and then we will have winter discount, until the government falls, we will continue.”
He further added that there is no point of whether government will still be in power when there is nothing done for the people or the state of Uttar Pradesh. He further posed a question to the government in power about the work that was to be done regarding the climate change, about the budget, and several other issue and stated that the BJP has mno answer for any of these questions. “I believe that we will get the support of the public in overthrowing the BJP government.”
Akhilesh Yadav’s on the results of elections
Priya Sahgal then asked about what changed between the time when the elections started and when they ended and what gave confidence to Yadav in terms of the results of the election.
Yadav, in response, stated that the maximum numbers of legislators from the Samajwadi party belonged to the Raebareli constituency and that gave him the confidence about the alliance’s victory in the constituency with such huge number of votes.
Shadow Cabinet
The conversation, then led to the discussion about whether Akhilesh Yadav still believed that Congress was the leader of Opposition, since Congress’ victory across all it constituencies was due to its alliance with the Samajwadi party, and it was the alliance that increased the opposition’s number of votes.
Answering the question, Yadav reiterated that if the alliance and the congress party had garnered a better vote count in some constituencies, the BJP would not have been able to come to power at all. Priya further posed a question regarding the Shadow cabinet that is in the talks by the Congress party, she went on to ask who the prime minister would be for the shadow cabinet if it is formed to which Yadav stated that the discussion had not reached him or the Samajwadi party, however h poked fun as he stated that if there was an option for multiple prime ministers, there will be many.
Difference between Samajwadi Party then and now
In the last segment of the interaction, Sahgal asked Yadav about the difference between his Samajwadi Party and that of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and what were the changes that came into the party as the leadership shifted across generations until the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh Yadav mentioned that the ideology is the same that was passed on by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia and was worked on by Netaji Sabhash Chandra Bose. “The ideology was that the people prosper and there is equality amongst all. However, the time has changed from when Netaji was fighting the elections and today, however the changes that we brought was brought in accordance with the needs of the present time. But the ideology is still the same,” he elaborated on the technological and infrastructural advancements that were brought in was because of the resources that gradually became available with time and the cities that grew bigger with bigger and mor urban problems like the waste management and several others. He brought up the issue of the recent flood in the bsement of the IAS coaching centre that took the lives of three aspirants and stated that the advancements were brought in gradually to cater to such grave issues.
Akhilesh Yadav on Ram Mandir, Ayodhya
Touching up on the Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir he added that the Samajwadi Party had urged the other parties in power to compensate the poor who were being robbed off their lands, with amounts that can suffice their requirements but noody listened to him.
Ending the conversation, when Priya Sahgal asked of he would contest for the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections, he asserted, “elections happen for us to contest, so its out of habit that I will contest.”
Also Read: Madhya Pradesh Police Search School On IIT Indore Campus After Bomb Threat
