'Wearing saffron clothes does not make one a Baba, thoughts & conduct do': Akhilesh's swipe at Yogi

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday took a swipe at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath saying that wearing saffron clothes did make one a ‘Baba’ and that the true identity of a ‘Baba’ lay in one’s thoughts and conduct.

‘’One doesn’t become a Baba simply by putting on saffron clothes....a Baba’s real identity lies in his thoughts and conduct,’’ Akhilesh told reporters in Kannauj.

‘’We must remember that Ravana (the demon king) had also put on the dress of a sadhu when he had kidnapped Mata Sita (Lord Rama consort) ,’’ he said.

According to the Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’, Ravana, dressed as a sage, had approached Sita for alms while she was alone in her hut during Lord Rama’s exile. Ravana kidnapped her as she came out of the hut to give him alms.

The SP president said that Adityanath used ‘undemocratic language. ‘’No chief minister had ever used such language,’’ he remarked..

Akhilesh also accused the BJP of being ‘hypocrite’ in saying that it (saffron party) discriminated and used ‘children’ in politics.

The SP leader also claimed that the BJP would not make Nitish Kumar the chief minister of Bihar in case it won the state assembly polls. ‘’BJP will retire him from politics after the polls,’’ he added.

‘’BJP will use Nitish Kumar in the polls,’’ he claimed.

Akhilesh also slammed the proposed Vrindavan Corridor saying that only widening of the roads could not result in better crowd management at such places.