Yogi Adityanath's speeches naturally infused with Urdu, but UP CM opposing it because it's Urdu: Akhilesh hits back at 'maulvis' remark

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday took a jibe at the Uttar Pradesh government, saying it is the first government to oppose Urdu while using the language itself.

The remark came in the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath criticising the SP on Tuesday for demanding the House proceedings be translated into Urdu, saying they send their own children to English-medium schools but want others' children to learn Urdu and become "maulvis".

Yadav said, "Our chief minister does not know anything about Urdu. He was opposing Urdu because it's Urdu. The truth is that Urdu is an Indian language originating from the region around Meerut."

"The chief minister does not know anything. He just listens to ghazals alone. I heard that once he became very emotional," he added.

"The chief Minister himself has repeatedly used Urdu words such as ‘badnaam’, ‘bakhsha nahi jayega’, ‘paida’, ‘gunahgaar’, ‘maut’, ‘paaydaan’, and ‘sarkar’. Are these not Urdu words?" he asked in an official statement referring to Yogi's speeches.

"What he speaks naturally is infused with Urdu, yet he opposes it. Even his budget speech could not be completed without Urdu," he said.

The SP leader said it seems that the Finance Minister did not share the budget with the chief minister in advance due to confidentiality concerns.

"Had he (Adityanath) been shown the budget beforehand, he wouldn't have been able to recite the couplet: ‘Jis din se chala hoon, meri manzil par nazar hai’," he added.

On a question related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally reaching the airport to receive Qatar's Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was on a visit to India, the SP chief said, if the government wants investment, then it will have to forget the hatred against Muslims.

Just as it is said that investment will not come until the law and order is not right, similarly, until they end the hatred, how will they be able to make the state a growth engine?, the he added.

The remarks came after a heated exchange in the Assembly when SP leader Mata Prasad Pandey objected to the inclusion of English while demanding Urdu translation, after Speaker Satish Mahana announced translations in Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj, Bundeli, along with English.

Pandey's objection to including English and demand for Urdu translation irked the chief minister who accused the Samajwadi Party of having "double-standards".

"They send their children to English-medium schools but when the government wants to extend this opportunity to others' children, they (SP leaders) say 'teach them Urdu'... They want to make these children maulvis. They want to take the country towards fanaticism (kathmulla-pan)," Adityanath had said.