Some parties take everyone along, says Ram Gopal Yadav

Kanpur: Reacting to party leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s recent statement on Ramcharitmanas, Samajwadi Party (SP) national chief general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said on Friday that “some parties are really so powerful that one cannot open one’s mouth, but some are all-compassing like the ‘baraat’ (marriage procession) of Lord Bhole Shankar”.“There are all kinds of people in such a party (Lord Bhole Shankar’s procession), but everyone has to be taken along... don’t know who will be useful and where,” said Ram Gopal while speaking to reporters at a private event in an educational institute in Kachaura area of Etawah.He further said that the controversy over Ramcharitmanas should not have happened. “There are some very good things in every book. There are also one or two things that cannot be agreed upon. Do not discuss what they do not agree with and follow what is good,” he said.Ram Gopal also reacted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s ‘Hindu nation’ remark. “When people have nothing to do, when they start getting frustrated and the public starts getting depressed, they lure people with this kind of illusionary trap. In my opinion, India will not become a Hindu nation. It will remain as it was before, everyone has to be taken along. These people are creating perversion of religion,” he said. On the question of disqualification of party MLA Abdullah Azam, Ram Gopal said “the law is such that membership is lost in it. It is a fundamental right of political parties to agitate”. “Earlier we used to agitate, nothing used to happen. But now cases are filed immediately. Even courts should not punish people for such small matters. If this happens, people will lose faith in the judiciary,” he said.Reacting to the Madauli incident of Kanpur Dehat where a woman and her daughter died of burns during a blaze at an eviction drive on February 13, he said, “It is condemnable and the state government should take strict action in this regard.” Opposing handing over of the command of the sports organizations to political leaders, he said, “I believe that if the command of sports organizations be given to the senior players, the morale of budding players would be higher.”He also raised questions on investments made in the state in the recent Investors Summit, he said: “The country’s budget itself is of Rs 45 lakh crore, but the UP Chief Minister is saying that Rs 33 lakh crore will be invested in the state. This raises questions. Summits were held earlier as well, but has any reality been seen on the ground so far?”