Lucknow, Jun 16 (PTI) Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday sought to know the number of candidates from PDA communities included in the list of newly recruited constables in Uttar Pradesh.
The term PDA coined by Yadav refers to a combination of 'Pichhde' (backward classes), Dalit and 'Alpasankhyak' (minorities).
Yadav's statement during a press conference comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government distributed appointment letters to 60,244 newly recruited constables, including 12,000 women.
Responding to a question on whether casteism and regionalism prevailed in recruitments before 2017, the SP chief said, "No government can do recruitments by tweaking the rules. The BJP levels allegations against us, so that questions on the count of PDA, and who is snatching their rights, are not asked. This is their propaganda. No one can do propaganda better than the BJP." Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Sunday said that before 2017, when his government came to power, police recruitment in the state was marred by nepotism and corruption, and jobs were nearly impossible to secure without money or recommendation.
"However, that era is over. We followed merit and transparency, respecting constitutional reservations," Adityanath had said, adding that there was no discrimination based on caste, religion, class or region.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had said that no one had to pay even a single penny as bribe, and that the recruitments took place in a transparent manner.
"The recruitments were done on the basis of merit alone and not on the basis of caste or corruption," Shah had said.
When pointed out that labourers from Uttar Pradesh are working in Israel amid that country's tensions with Iran, Yadav said the war must stop.
"We are not in favour of war anywhere. We will tell the Government of India that it should bring back safely Indians who are in Iran or elsewhere," he said.
Referring to a media report on the stampede at Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, Yadav said, "The government had given a false figure of 37 people dying in the stampede, but the channel dared to show that 82 people had died." Yadav also questioned why cash was distributed to relatives of only some of the dead. "Under which rule was the decision to give cash taken? On whose orders was the decision made? Who is distributing fake cash?" Yadav claimed that the government wants to avoid these questions because it does not have answers.
At least 30 people were killed and 60 others injured in a stampede that broke out at the Maha Kumbh Mela on January 29, officials had said.
The pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area had broken out as crores of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya.
"Those who can lie about such a holy work, can lie about any statistics. So, we have to be careful about the voters' list. The census is also going to happen soon. All of us have to be careful about that. We do not know what figures the government will give, because nobody trusts the statistics of the BJP," Yadav said.
He also alleged that the BJP and its government are working to increase hatred.
Pointing to the lack of administrative permission for fairs held in the name of Syed Salar Ghazi Masood at places like Bahraich and Sambhal, he said, "Our traditional mixed culture, local fairs, are being deliberately stopped." Pointing out that fairs connect people and strengthen relationships, Yadav said the poor do business during fairs. "These (BJP) people are against business," he said.
He accused the BJP of going against fairs that have been held for thousands of years, from where the message of unity spreads, the communities' respect for each other increases, and there is opportunity for people to connect.
He suggested to SP workers that in order to stop rigging during polls, they should get the voters' list corrected and object to the fake voters that the BJP introduces.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)