'Reveal caste of other Gods too': Akhilesh mocks Yogi

December 12, 2018 18:12

Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked him to "reveal" caste of other deities so he could pray to the God of his caste.

Yadav's remarks come days after the chief minister described Lord Hanuman as a Dalit.

Adityanath had, during a poll rally in Rajasthan's Alwar district, said, "Hanuman was a forest dweller, deprived and a Dalit. Bajrang Bali worked to connect all Indian communities together, from north to south and east to west."

"Caste of only some Gods have been revealed. It will be good if he tells caste of all of them. I will also pray to the God of my caste," Yadav told reporters Wednesday.

Adityanath was strongly criticised by the opposition for his remarks while one of its own Dalit MP quit the party.

Bahraich BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule claimed that Lord Hanuman was "a Dalit and a slave of 'manuwadi' people" and alleged that Dalits and backwards were being called 'bandar' (monkey) and 'rakshas' (demon).

The Lok Sabha member quit the BJP last week, charging it with playing politics to divide the society.

Asked to comment on the results of the just-concluded assembly elections in five states, including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, Akhilesh said the outcome was "encouraging".

"Results of assembly polls are out. I thank people of these state especially of Chhatisgarh, MP and Rajasthan and welcome the 'janadesh'. Though our (SP's) performance was not good, we won a seat in MP and stood at second at some places," he said. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

ED recovers Rs 35 cr from domestic help of J'khand minister's secretary

The premises are alleged to be of the domestic help of Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam's personal secretary Sanjiv Lal.

Hamas accepts Qatari-Egypt ceasefire plan for Gaza

Thousands of people flee eastern Rafah after Israel orders people to evacuate as fears of a full-blown military assault on the city sheltering more than one million displaced people grow.

New all-in-one vaccine may prove effective against all coronaviruses

The research published in 'Nature Nanotechnolog' on Monday is based on a new approach to vaccine development called "proactive vaccinology", where scientists build a vaccine before the disease-causing pathogen even emerges, which has...

Saudi Smash TT: Manika shocks World No 2 Wang

Manika Batra shocked World No. 2 Wang Manyu of China to secure the biggest win of her singles career.

Bomb threats: HC seeks police's school evacuation plan

Justice Subramonium Prasad said though police have filed a status report listing the standard operating procedure for bomb detection and disposal squads and the guidelines to deal with bomb threats in schools, they have not submitted...