BJP govt's ‘Swadeshi' call mere rhetoric: Akhilesh
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Lucknow: Taking on the BJP-led govt at the Centre for its call to promote 'Swadeshi' products, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday described it as mere 'jumla' (rhetoric) and accused the BJP of touring the world to request countries to enter into trade agreements.
"BJP ka swadeshi bhi ek jumla hai (BJP's call for Swadeshi is only rhetoric)," Akhilesh said, adding that in India the BJP is calling upon people to use Indian products while BJP delegations are touring the world urging for trade agreements.
"If the BJP had the right intentions, it would never have had 'jhoola' (swing) moments and had not gifted gold chains to those who chained our countrymen," he said.
Akhilesh's 'jhula' jibe was in apparent reference to the 2014 visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the First Lady who, accompanied by PM Modi during their visit to Gujarat, sat on a swing for a photo op.
Similarly, his charge of Indians being chained is being seen in the light of recent deportations by the US where Indians were sent back handcuffed and chained to each other.
The SP chief made the comments a day after the PM, during his address in Varanasi on Saturday, called upon the people to use products manufactured in India. The call came at a time when India is involved in a tariff war with the Donald Trump govt in the US which has imposed a tariff of 25% on Indian goods.
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As a counter to it, the PM called on Indians to buy and sell Indian products only.
'Even British didn't slap FIRs for edu'
Lucknow: Taking exception to Pratapgarh district administration lodging an FIR against Samajwadi Party MLA and others for organising a 'PDA Pathshala' on a school campus that was lying locked, party president Akhilesh Yadav described the move as something that did not happen during even the British rule in India.
SP functionaries are organising PDA Pathshalas in protest against state govt's move to merge schools which have low enrolment following a call from the party president urging retired teachers and educated youths to impart education to children in villages where schools have been shut. There were allegations that SP MLA from Pratapgarh RK Verma entered a closed school in unauthorised manner to hold a PDA Pathshala for which an FIR was lodged.
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