Defiant Akhilesh garlands JP's bust in Lucknow, urges Nitish to pull out of NDA

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister 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 1975 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 'samajwadis' from paying tributes to Narayan, a socialist ideologue, and asserting that the JD(U) chief owes his political emergence to the JP movement.

On Friday morning, he slammed the BJP government in the state for putting up barricades near his house on Vikramaditya Marg here to prevent 'samajwadis' 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 of them donning red caps and raising slogans and party flags.

"On the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan ji, we go to the JPNIC museum to celebrate. 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 SP chief also said bamboo barricades would not have been able to stop SP workers from visiting the JPNIC if it was not a festival day. Yadav had reached the JPNIC on Thursday night and lambasted the state's 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 adharm they are doing on a 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, in fact, 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. "Samajwadis have 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 8 October, 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.