After Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav, party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav invoked Lord Krishna to "revive" the electoral fortune of his party and counter the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
"Rama is worshipped mainly in the North India... Krishna, on the other hand, is worshipped almost by the entire country from north to south," Mulayam said, while speaking at a function in Ghaziabad on Sunday.
"Lord Krishna is worshipped even outside India," he added.
Mulayam's remark was slammed by the BJP, which termed it an attempt to "divide the Gods to gain political mileage".
''It is really very unfortunate that even the gods are not spared. It is an attempt to divide the gods," said a senior state BJP leader here.
The Congress, however, reacted in a cautious manner saying that one should avoid making such remarks. "Both Rama and Krishna are incarnations of Lord Vishnu...they are the same," said Congress leader Ashok Singh.
Mulayam's remarks comes close on the heels of Akhilesh Yadav's reported plans to get a statue of Lord Kishna constructed at his ancestral village of Saifai and unveil the same at a grand function in the presence Opposition leaders before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that the state government would construct a statue of Lord Rama on the banks of the holy Saryu river in Ayodhya.
Political observers said it is an attempt by the SP to rid itself of the "pro-Muslim" tag.
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