BJP-led govt following policy of divide and rule, alleges Akhilesh

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday accused the BJP-led government of following policy of "divide and rule" on the lines of Britishers and alleged that the President's address to the two houses of parliament was not a document of "truths".

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President's Address, Yadav took several digs at the government and accused it of creating doubts among people and society.

He cited Swami Vivekananda saying at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893 that the East's problem was not dharma, "of which there was no dearth", but hunger.

He said there was no mention of river Ganga in the Address.

The Azamgarh MP alleged that the government had not fulfilled its slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka Vikas and sabka vishwas'.

"You are experts. What the Britishers did - divide and rule, you also divided and ruled. Sometimes you divided Hindus and Muslims, sometimes you divided brothers," Yadav said.

Referring to mention of Ram Manohar Lohia in the President's Address, he said the socialist leader had said in a book that the quarrel between liberal and hardcore Hindus had been going on for ages and had not been resolved.

Yadav said his government had made Yamuna Expressway in record time and accused the Yogi Adityanath government of stopping his initiatives such as markets for potatoes and grains.