Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'Abba Jaan' remark which he made during a public gathering has invited criticism from several opposition party leaders. Congress former president Rahul Gandhi and the UP chief minister indulged into verbal spat when the Congress leader taking a dig at the BJP leader in a tweet wrote, "Jo nafrat kare...wah Yogi kaisa! (What kind of a Yogi is someone who hates!)."
Responding to the tweet in the same vein, Adityanath quoted a line from the Ramcharitmanas and said that if demolishing the property of criminals and miscreants is hate, then this 'hate' will continue relentlessly.
"No one in politics takes Rahul Gandhi seriously. Jo dangaion se nafrat kare, bhrashtacharion se nafrat kare, aatankwadion se nafrat kare aur desh-pradesh ko surakshit kare wo Yogi hi hai (The one who hates rioters, who hates the corrupt, hates terrorists and secures the state and the country, that is Yogi). Maybe it wasn't taught to you in Congress' school," BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia said.
Yogi Adityanath has been criticised by many political rivals for his crude swipe at the Samajwadi Party, which lost power to the BJP in 2017.
The Chief Minister had said at a public meeting on Sunday that only "people who say abba jaan (Urdu for father)" were allowed to consume state-subsidised food before 2017, when the Samajwadi was in charge.
The chief minister also said that leaders like Akhilesh Yadav earlier did not visit temples for the fear of offending their Muslim vote-bank.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has slammed Yogi and the BJP for trying to divert people's attention ahead of polls.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Juhie Singh said that the BJP had always diverted the attention of the people from the core issues of the state. The situation during Covid-19, inflation, unemployment, and social injustice has never been the party's priority, she said.
