Yogi’s remark on socialism causes furore in Parishad, SP seeks apology

UP chief minister Yogi Adititanath’s loaded remark about socialism as an ideology caused an uproar in the Vidhan Parishad on Wednesday. Taking strong exception to the remark, Samajwadi Party (SP) members demanded that the chief minister tender an apology.

Speaking in the Vidhan Parishad on the last day of the budget session, Adityanath launched one of the strongest attacks on the Samajwadi Party, saying ‘socialism’ as an ideology was a ‘dhokha’ (illusion) and the country did not need to have it.

This prompted the SP members to ask how he could call ‘socialism’ a ‘dhokha’ when the word socialist was an intrinsic part of the Preamble to the Constitution.

Adityanath retorted by asking: “Tell me when the word socialism crept into Constitution,” insinuating that the same was not part of the original Constitution and insisted socialism was nothing but a ‘mrigtrishna’ (mirage). He said socialism was a ‘bahurupi’ (polymorphous) brand.

As the SP members shouted even more, the CM said, smiling, “Hold on, I am here to prove why socialism is an illusion.”

He said, “In Germany and Italy, socialism finally resulted in fascism and Nazism. Socialism, in its worst manifestation, resulted in goonda raj in UP.”

As the protests grew louder with the agitated SP members trying to stall the speech, the CM moved on to other issues. But, later, he concluded his nearly two hour-long speech by saying the country needed Ram Rajya, not socialism.

Ram rajya, he said, was beyond time and space and not subject to decay.

Reacting to the opposition’s criticism of the budget, he said this year’s budget was the biggest one for the UP with increased allocations for all the sectors.

He enumerated the work done by his government in the last one year in various fields, including agriculture, electricity, rural housing and sanitation.

He said unlike the previous government that discriminated between shamshan (cremation ground) and kabristan (graveyard), his government had made no such distinction in executing welfare schemes. “This is the main difference between socialists and nationalists,” he said.

The CM said his government had been able to change the perception about Uttar Pradesh to the extent that a large number of industrialists showed interest to invest in the state. “Earlier criminals used to be glorified, but today they are begging for life,” he said.

He said the SP and the BSP government did nothing for people during their 15-year rule in the state.

“And now, the same parties are terming the budget anti-people and anti-development,” he said.

CM looked changed: Hasan

Yogi Adityanath kept smiling during his two- hour speech and after that as well, without losing his cool.

This was why leader of the opposition Ahmad Hasan (Samajwadi Party) remarked that the CM looked changed somewhat for the first time. “People say he is aggressive and arrogant, but today he looked changed,” he said.

Hasan, however, attached political meaning to the same, saying, “Phulpur and Gorakhpur (bypoll) results appear to have humbled him and this is good.”

Earlier, the CM took a dig at Hasan, asking how he fell into the trap of socialism and even said the BJP could accommodate him.

“See, we have Mohsin Raza with us,” he said in a lighter vein. Raza is the only Muslim minister in the Yogi government.