Yogi’s Jab at Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav as “Namoones,” SP Hits Back:  “Confession of an Internal Strife”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Without taking any names, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday launched a sharp political attack on opposition leaders with an indirect swipe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav by remarking that there were “two namoone” (two specimens) who choose to leave the country whenever critical national issues arises.

The chief minister made the comments while responding to allegations raised by the UP’s main opposition Samajwadi Party over an alleged illegal trade in codeine-based cough syrup, during the second day of the winter session of the state Assembly. The opposition had tried to corner the state government over the alleged smuggling of Codeine cough syrup in Uttar Pradesh and said that timely action could have saved hundreds of children.

The Chief Minister trashed the charge and said not a single child died in Uttar Pradesh due to the consumption of the cough syrup. Dismissing the opposition’s charges, Adityanath suggested that the controversy was driven by political motives rather than facts. He alleged that the issue pointed towards possible involvement of individuals linked to the Samajwadi Party, claiming that financial transactions related to the case had passed through the account of an office-bearer of the party’s Lohia Vahini. The matter was under investigation by the Special Task Force, he added.

Reacting to the Chief Minister’s remark, Mr Yadav called the statement “an open admission of internal discord within the BJP” between the party’s central leadership and the state leaders. The Samajwadi Party claimed that illegal trade had run into thousands of crores of rupees and alleged that hundreds of children had lost their lives, a charge strongly denied by the BJP-led government in the state.

Replying to the issue raised by the Opposition as soon as the House proceedings began, the Chief Minister said the matter appeared to be “politically motivated.” He said, “There are two namoone in the country, one in Delhi and the other in Lucknow. Whenever there’s a discussion in the country, these individuals run away.”

“And I think the same thing is happening with your ‘Babaua’. He will also leave the country again for a trip to England, and you people will keep shouting here,” Adityanath said. In his political rallies, Adityanath often targets SP chief as ‘Babua.”

The Samajwadi Party president also hit back at the Chief Minister’s “two namoone” remark. “Self-admission! No one had expected that the Delhi-Lucknow fight would reach this point. People holding constitutional positions should maintain at least some sense of propriety and not cross the limits of decorum,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said.

He also took a swipe at the ruling party, asking it not to air its internal differences in public. “BJP leaders should not bring their party’s internal infighting to the crossroads. If someone takes offence, they may have to retreat,” Mr Yadav said in the post.

The Samajwadi Party has repeatedly claimed a power tussle between the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and the BJP leadership at the Centre. Those claiming a power struggle between the BJP central leadership and Yogi Adityanath have pointed to the appointment of Deputy Chief Ministers and specific bureaucrats, arguing that these are aimed at limiting the Chief Minister’s powers. Adityanath has trashed such claims and said he is in the top post because of the party.

While Adityanath did not name anyone, the remark was seen as a jab at Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, and Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief, a Lok Sabha MP and Uttar Pradesh’s former Chief Minister. Earlier, Adityanath mocked Gandhi, Yadav and RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as “three monkeys” and called them “Pappu”, “Tappu” and “Appu”.

Addressing a rally in the run-up to the Bihar polls, he had said, “Just as Mahatma Gandhi had three monkeys, today the INDIA alliance brought in three monkeys in the name of Pappu, Tappu, and Appu (Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, and Akhilesh Yadav). Pappu cannot speak the truth or say anything good. Tappu cannot see any truth, and Appu cannot hear the truth,” he had said.