'Respect Fathers Equally': Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav Hits Out at Yogi Adityanath's 'Aurangzeb' Jibe

Lucknow: A day after Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Aurangzeb’ jibe at Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief took to Twitter to advise the Chief Minister to ‘respect fathers equally’.

On Saturday, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, “The Chief Minister should treat every father with equal respect, even the father of the Unnao rape victim who was killed by the police. Similarly, he should also respect all the daughters, including the one who was sent to jail for showing black flags. This is the real ‘Rajdharm’.”

Yogi Adityanath, on Friday, likened the party president to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who had jailed his father. His remarks came amid fresh trouble in the first family of the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh’s estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav has just floated his separate Samajwadi Secular Morcha and announced plans to contest all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 elections.

Adityanath did not directly name the SP leader, but made it clear that he was alluding to the manner in which Akhilesh Yadav had edged out his father Mulayam Singh Yadav to take charge of the party.

The Chief Minister said, “Whatever is happening in the party (SP) is somewhat similar to Mughal Era, when an emperor was held captive by his own son. History repeats itself.”

This is not the first time when Yogi Adityanath compared Akhilesh to Aurangzeb. Back in 2017, before the state assembly elections, he had said that the people of Uttar Pradesh “don’t want Aurangzeb’s rule”.

Akhilesh had on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of igniting caste politics in the state and said Adityanath's days as chief minister were numbered. He said the monk-turned-CM will not remain in the post in 2019.