Negativity materialises in form of words that ignore dignity, Akhilesh in veiled dig at Adityanath

Lucknow: In an apparent jibe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his "vultures got only dead bodies, pigs got dirt" statement in the assembly, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has said negative mentality manifested itself in the form of words that ignored the dignity of country, time and place.

Adityanath on Monday slammed the opposition over criticism of the state government's arrangements for the ongoing Maha Kumbh.

Reacting to the statement without naming the chief minister in a post on X on Monday, Yadav said, "But those who searched for their loved ones at the Maha Kumbh neither found their names in the list of the dead nor in the lost-and-found register." Yadav was referring to last month's stampede at the Maha Kumbh that killed at least 30 people and injured several others.

He further said in Hindi, "Some people searched for political opportunism in the Maha Kumbh and found a medium for self-promotion. But they lost their morality, integrity and human sensibilities as well as balance in speech." Uttering indecent statements shows that peak negative mentality manifests in the form of words that do not care about the dignity of country, time and place, Yadav said.

"While speaking about a holy religious-spiritual festival like the Maha Kumbh, the choice of words should be in accordance with the honour and prestige of the occasion. Those intelligent people hurt by such statements are requested to have a feeling of sympathy towards such people and not anger," he added.

Earlier on Monday, Adityanath attacked the opposition over criticism of the state government's arrangements for the Maha Kumbh and said whoever searched for something at the congregation found it.

"Vultures got only dead bodies. Pigs got dirt. Sensitive people got a beautiful picture of relationships. People with faith got a sense of fulfilment. Gentlemen got gentlemanliness, the poor got employment, the rich got business. Devotees got clean arrangements... Devotees got God. It means that everyone has seen and felt things according to their nature and character," he said.

He also slammed the Samajwadi Party, saying its chief minister at that time did not have time to review arrangements for the Kumbh and "a non-Sanatani was made its in-charge" during the party's tenure in office.

He was referring to the 2013 Kumbh, organised when Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Mohammad Azam Khan was made the congregation's in-charge.

Adityanath further said, "We have not played with faith like you. In your time, the chief minister did not have time to see and review the event and, therefore, he appointed a non-Sanatani as its in-charge." "But, here, I myself was reviewing Kumbh and am still doing it. This is the reason that whoever went to the Kumbh in 2013 saw chaos, corruption and pollution. There was no water fit for bathing in the Triveni of the Ganga, Yamuna and the Saraswati. The prime minister of Mauritius is an example of this who refused to take a dip," he added.