Lucknow. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday garlanded a bust of Jayaprakash Narayan mounted atop a vehicle outside his residence where hundreds of party workers had gathered after authorities blocked his visit to the JP International Centre citing security concerns.
The late JP, as the socialist leader and fierce critic of the Emergency was known, has emerged as the latest centre of the tussle between the ruling BJP and the opposition party.
Yadav also appealed to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to withdraw support to the NDA, saying the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh stopped ‘Samajwadi’ from paying tributes to Narayan, a socialist ideologue, and asserting that the JD(U) chief owes his political emergence to the JP movement.
In the morning, he slammed the BJP government in the state for putting up barricades near his house on Vikramaditya Marg here to prevent ‘Samajwadi’ from visiting the site and garlanding JP Narayan’s statue on his birth anniversary.
SP workers had assembled outside Yadav’s residence as ambiguity remained over Yadav’s scheduled visit to the Jayaprakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC).
At around 10.30 am, a bust of Narayan, mounted on a vehicle, was garlanded by Yadav on the road packed with SP workers, several donning red caps and raising slogans and party flags.
“On the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan ji, we celebrate at the JPNIC museum. But I don’t know why this government stops us. This blockade by the BJP is not the first. It has blocked all good work,” Yadav said.
“Today, standing on the road, we are paying tributes to the ‘Jan Nayak’. This government wants to stop us from garlanding but we have done it here on the road itself,” he told the gathering.
The Samajwadi Party chief also said that bamboo barricades would not have been able to stop SP workers from visiting the Jaya Prakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC) if it was not a festival day.
Yadav had reached the JPNIC on Thursday night and criticized the Yogi Adityanath government for blocking its main gate with tin sheets apparently to prevent entry.
“The people of BJP are destructive. Give them anything good and they will destroy it. They stopped us Samajwadi people in the past also but since this is the 9th day of Navratri, think about the ‘harm’ they are doing on the day of the festival,” he said.
He noted that there are several “socialist people” who are part of the government and involved in running the system.
“The chief minister of Bihar (Nitish Kumar) also keeps talking about Jayaprakash Narayan ji from time to time he has emerged (as a politician) from JP’s movement itself. This is a chance that he has got to withdraw support from a government which is stopping Samajwadis from remembering Jayaprakash on his anniversary,” Yadav said.
He said Kumar had added power to the JP’s movement. JP was a socialist ideologue who participated in the freedom movement and contributed to it along with Mahatma Gandhi.
“Samajwadi has given respect to him (JP) and will continue to do so,” Yadav added.
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister alleged that the memorial at JPNIC is under covers because of a “conspiracy to sell it”. “Imagine, there is a government which wants to sell a museum,” he said.
Earlier, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) Yadav that his planned visit to the Centre was “not advisable” as it cited security concerns due to the ongoing construction work at the site.
In a letter referencing their correspondence dated October 8, the LDA noted that Yadav, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who is accorded Z-plus security, intended to pay homage to the statue located at the convention centre.
“It is to be informed that the Engineering Department, Lucknow Development Authority has provided a report regarding the updated status of the work site, in which the JP Narayan Convention Centre project is still under construction.
“The construction material is kept in an unplanned manner and due to the rainy season there is a possibility of the presence of unwanted living creatures. The site has not been found suitable for garlanding/visiting from the security point of view of Akhilesh Yadav, former chief minister, who has Z-Plus security,” the LDA said in its letter dated October 10.
Yadav took to social media and shared video clips and pictures of the deployment of security personnel, including police and rapid action force, with barricades near his house here, a stone’s throw away from the Samajwadi Party headquarters.
“Whether it is the BJP people or their government, their every action is a symbol of negativity. To prevent the Samajwadi people from garlanding the statue of JP Narayan Ji on his birth anniversary like last time, barricades have been put up around our private residence to stop them,” he posted on X in Hindi.
The SP chief accused the BJP of creating hurdles in the path of harmony, peace, reservation, farmers’ welfare, women’s safety, youth development, employment generation, and development of PDAs (pichhde, Dalit, alpsankhyak).
“The BJP has always been against freedom fighters and the freedom movement. They have learnt from the colonial powers and supported them secretly. Everyone is saying today that they don’t want the BJP,” Yadav said.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav also hit out at the state government over the issue. “The BJP, intoxicated with power, wants to barricade democracy. The system of power can never prevail over the system of the people. Government, learn a lesson from the past! Dictatorship does not last long in a democracy,” he posted on X along with videos of security deployment.
Last year, too, Yadav had to climb over the gate of the JPNIC to garland the statue of JP Narayan that was installed on the premises by the SP government led by him.
4—Over a month after the Coast Guard chopper crash, the body of the missing pilot recovered off the Gujarat coast
The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) of the Coast Guard with four crew members met with the accident while trying to evacuate an injured man on board motor tanker Hari Leela, nearly 30 nautical miles from the Porbandar coast.
Ahmedabad.
The body of a missing Indian Coast Guard pilot has been recovered over a month after a helicopter belonging to the maritime security agency crashed into the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast, officials said on Friday.
Three crew members went missing after the ALH MK-III helicopter fell into the Arabian Sea off Porbandar on September 2. While the bodies of two crew members were recovered subsequently, a search continued to trace Rakesh Kumar Rana, the pilot in command of the mission.
Rana’s body was recovered from the sea, nearly 55 km southwest of Porbandar, on October 10, the Coast Guard said in a release.
“ICG (Coast Guard) along with the Indian Navy and other stakeholders continued unrelenting search efforts to locate Commandant Rakesh Kumar Rana, who was the Pilot in Command of the mission.
“His mortal remains will be cremated as per service traditions and honour. A warm salute to the three brave souls from Rank and File of the Indian Coast Guard who laid down their lives in the line of duty,” it said.
The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) of the Coast Guard with four crew members met with the accident while trying to evacuate an injured man on board motor tanker Hari Leela, nearly 30 nautical miles from the Porbandar coast.
While one of the four crew members on the helicopter, diver Gautam Kumar, was rescued immediately, three went missing. A day later, the bodies of pilot Vipin Babu and diver Karan Singh were recovered. But Rana remained missing, prompting a massive search operation.
As part of the search by the Coast Guard and Indian Navy, more than 70 air sorties and 82 ship days involving several vessels were pressed into service, added the release.