Yogi Adityanath does not believe in Constitution, hates socialism: Akhilesh Yadav

New Delhi: Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, in ABP News’ Shikhar Sammelan, attacked the state's ruling BJP government for numerous reasons. In his detailed address, he held chief minister Yogi Adityanath responsible for the rampant crime and spurting communal clashes in the state. Attacking Adityanath, Akhilesh said, “Our chief minister gets offended when media reports about mismanagement in the state. When I was in power, I treated media reports as pieces of information. I used to get in touch with the concerned departments and find out the reason behind the faults.” Akhilesh also hit out at Adityanath for his remark about socialism. He said, “CM Adityanath despises socialism. He hates the word Samajwadi.  He hasn’t brought about any major work after coming to power. His main work was to remove “Samajwadi” from the past works of SP.” Showing the cover of the book on Adityanath, titled “Yogi Adityanath, The Rise Of A Saffron Socialist”, Akhilesh questioned: “If he (CM Yogi) hates the word socialism, then why has he brought about a book where he is called a socialist?” Labeling CM Yogi as a non-believer in the Constitution, he alleged that chief minister dislikes the concept of ‘socialism’. Akhilesh said that the word “Socialist” comes from the preamble of the constitution. He attacked CM for terming Kasganj communal violence as an accident and not a riot. Talking about SP’s recent victory in UP by-polls, he said: “Both the  ‘Chief Ministers’ (referring to CM Yogi and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya) lost from their strongholds in the by-polls and Samajwadi Party emerged victorious. BSP supported us and we thank BSP for the win.” About striking an alliance with BSP he said: “Alliance of BSP and SP is an alliance of the great leaders Lohia and Ambedkar. Now that the two groups have come together, we would want to ensure that this alliance works for long and we will chalk out ways for it. We hope that the ideologies of the two great leaders can take the country forward.” Akhilesh said that when BSP and SP parted ways, he wasn’t active in politics. He said, “We never had any fight between us. I have always treated them honourably.” Watch the full interview here: