Akhilesh Yadav accuses CM Yogi Adityanath of insulting Lord Krishna, says BJP will lose Uttar Pradesh polls in 2027

Luckno: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of insulting Lord Krishna through his alleged remarks about cowherds, and said the BJP would face defeat in the 2027 Assembly elections.

In a post on X, Yadav shared a video clip of Adityanath's remarks during an event in Uttarakhand a day earlier, in which the chief minister purportedly said that but for people from the hill state, Yadav would have been grazing buffaloes in his native Saifai in Etawah.

"By using abusive language against 'Gopalaks' (cowherds), the Uttar Pradesh chief minister has, by implication, insulted Gopal, or Lord Krishna. This is unforgivable," Yadav said.

"First, he was involved, along with a big gang, in the theft of offerings, donations and contributions made to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and gave them a clean chit out of fear that the truth might come out. Now he is attacking Lord Krishna. He is using such objectionable language because he wants to establish his own power, separate from Sanatan Dharma," Yadav alleged.

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The former CM said it was because of "this very malice" that Adityanath had the Pal community "beaten with batons" in Varanasi and showed "utter disrespect" in the city to the statue of Rajmata Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, a great devotee of Lord Shiva who belonged to the Holkar community of the shepherd (Gadariya) caste, after the Shivalinga had been removed from it.

"He is neither a true devotee of Lord Shiva, nor of Lord Ram, nor of Lord Krishna, nor of Devi Ahilyabai," Yadav said in the X post, without directly naming Adityanath.

Taking an apparent swipe at preacher Dhirendra Shastri, who is scheduled to hold a religious discourse in Kunda in Pratapgarh next week, Yadav referred to him as "Dushmukhi" and alleged that both he and Adityanath shared similarities in their attire, language and alleged remarks about Lord Ram and Lord Krishna.

The SP chief also hit out at the proposed religious event, claiming the BJP was inviting such figures because the CM had become "politically weak".

Slamming Adityanath for "his language", Yadav said, "We forgive you because you are not in control of yourself. From someone who cannot even control his own willpower and becomes unsettled every now and then throughout the day, expecting control or balance over his words is pointless."

"The more your frustration and apprehension over defeat grow, the lower your language will sink," he added.

Yadav claimed that Adityanath has become "afraid of the defeats in 2024 and 2026" (Lok Sabha and recent statements MLC polls), and "that is why your speech has gone awry. You will suffer a permanent defeat in 2027."

"If you were winning, you would be talking about yourself and your achievements, not about us.

"The more offensively you speak, the worse your defeat will be, because the 2027 election has now become a contest between five per cent arrogant, supremacist and dominant people and 95 per cent PDA," he said.

Yadav's remarks came amid a fresh exchange of barbs between the BJP and SP ahead of the upcoming state elections.