Akhilesh Yadav retaliates to PM Modi's 'red cap' jibe; warns 'Red alert for BJP in UP'

Retaliating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'red alert' jibe, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that for the Bharatiya Janata Party 'red alert' was unemployment, the helplessness of farmers and labours, the harassment of women and youth, the deplorable state of health, education and business, incident like Hathras and most importantly the 'red topi'. Yadav added that the 'red cap' will be the one to 'uproot the BJP off power'.

"Laal ka inquilab hoga, 22 main badlav hoga," wrote Akhilesh Yadav on his Twitter handle. The statement came after PM Modi, addressing a crowd in Yogi Adityanath's home turf Gorakhpur, where he had gone to inaugurate three megaprojects, including an AIIMS and a major fertiliser plant, said " Red cap means red alert for Uttar Pradesh.  They ring alarms to danger.”

Samajwadi Party Vs BJP

Meanwhile, BJP backed PM Modi's remarks and went all guns blazing at Akhilesh Yadav and the SP. Speaking to Republic, party spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh said that 'what the Prime Minister said is not a hidden truth, everybody in Uttar Pradesh knows that'.  Underlining that the 'red cap people just run after 'red light', he said that there was an obvious 'red alert' from the Akhilesh Yadav-led party. "They were the ones to bring jungle raj in Uttar Pradesh. The way corruption increased, people had to face unemployment all of these are troubles of their times," he said. 

Samajwadi Party also backed its leader Akhilesh Yadav. Speaking to Republic, party leader IP Singh said that the BJP was just tormented. Giving the example of a rally held recently in Meruth, he said," The result of it is such that the police tried stopped and diverted the people in a 10-meter radius. But still, they were unsuccessful." 

Further, political analyst Abhishek Sudhir spoke to Republic and said," I think the attack from the side of the Prime Minister is a very good development for the Samajwadi Party."  He added," The BJP had conducted a few surveys in the state which showed that Akhilesh Yadav is returning as the Chief Minister. This has scared PM Modi and the BJP. If you notice, there are no attacks on Arvind Kejriwal, Priyanka Gandhi or Mayawati, the guns are all pointed towards Akhilesh Yadav." 

The term of the incumbent government will expire on May 14, 2022. Before that, likely in the month of February-March, Uttar Pradesh will go for polls to elect 403 members of the Legislative Assembly.