BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi targets SP over Ram Lalla darshan in Ayodhya

Political heat has intensified over Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav's upcoming visit to Ayodhya. According to an 'Aaj Tak' report, Samajwadi Party leader Pawan Pandey has announced that Akhilesh Yadav will visit Ayodhya with his family on 12 December to offer prayers to Ram Lalla. Following this announcement, Bharatiya Janata Party national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi held a press conference and launched a scathing attack. Terming Akhilesh Yadav an 'electoral Hindu', he questioned how leaders of a party that once spoke of firing at kar sevaks are now going to offer prayers to Ram Lalla.

Sudhanshu Trivedi referred to the statement made by SP leader Sanatan Pandey on this issue, in which he spoke of firing at kar sevaks to protect the Constitution. Recalling this, the BJP spokesperson said that on one hand, SP leaders support firing at kar sevaks, and on the other, Akhilesh Yadav is planning a programme to visit Ram Lalla. He remarked sarcastically, "This time they have gone to visit Ram Lalla; perhaps in the upcoming elections, they will even say 'Jai Shri Ram'."

The BJP leader also recalled a statement made by Mulayam Singh Yadav in Lucknow in March 2017. According to Sudhanshu Trivedi, Mulayam Singh Yadav had said at the time that he had 16 Hindus killed and would have felt no regret even if 40 people had been killed. Linking these old statements to Akhilesh Yadav's Ayodhya visit, Trivedi alleged that the Samajwadi Party's politics is based on the insult of Hindu religion and Indian culture. He said that one Pandey talks about firing, and another Pandey talks about Akhilesh Yadav's visit, which clearly shows their double standards.

During this press conference, Sudhanshu Trivedi also raised questions on the old disputes between Congress and SP. He mentioned the sharp remarks exchanged between leaders of both parties during the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. He recalled that a senior Congress leader had used derogatory words for the SP, while Akhilesh Yadav had called the Congress a 'chaalu party'. In this context, he quipped that the public has to decide who is truly 'chaalu' among these two parties.

Furthermore, Trivedi also attacked Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's statement regarding Diwali. Kharge had described Diwali as 'Eid of happiness', on which Sudhanshu Trivedi expressed surprise, asking that if words like 'Utsav' or 'Habba' are used for festivals in Karnataka, then where did the word 'Eid' come from? He termed this an insult to Indian culture. Additionally, he also raised questions on Congress leader Imran Masood's statement describing Diwali as a 'man-made problem' and claims related to Sonia Gandhi's book and the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Targeting the INDIA bloc, Sudhanshu Trivedi said that this alliance harbors hatred towards Hindu religion and Indian culture. He described the BJP's policies as development-oriented and accused the opposition of practicing the politics of radical minority appeasement. He also tried to corner the opposition on the issue of building a Babri Masjid in Murshidabad. At the end of the press conference, he hit back at Kirti Azad's statement, raised the issue of women's respect, and presented his point by citing episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Sudhanshu Trivedi is a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Rajya Sabha MP.