Two days after Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath claimed that the state university in Azamgarh, the foundation of which was laid in the town, would lead it to become ‘Aryamgarh’, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi hit out at the CM saying that Yogi Adityanath is selectively targeting places with Muslim names. Speaking to TV9 Bharatvarsh, the SP MLA said that the “Yogi government is changing the Muslim name. The purpose is to only do Hindu-Muslim (politics)”.
Abu Azmi was overheard applauding his party’s president Akhilesh Yadav’s remark on the matter, in which the latter reportedly stated that his party would return to power before the ink used by Yogi Adityanath’s government to write the new name of Azamgarh dried out. “Then we would change it back to Azamgarh,” said Azmi.
अबू आजमी का वार…निशाने पर योगी सरकार#Lucknow | #AbuAzmi | #CMYogi | #Azamgarh | #UPAssemblyElection2022 | @abuasimazmi | @upadhyayabhii pic.twitter.com/YmPqIzCr9p
— TV9 Bharatvarsh (@TV9Bharatvarsh) November 15, 2021
The SP leader’s response came when the TV9 Bharatvarsh anchor asked Azmi his opinion on Yogi Adityanath’s claim that the constitution of a state university in Azamgarh will truly turn the district into Aryamgarh. The CM was addressing a public rally in Azamgarh along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday when he said: “The university, the foundation stone of which I laid today, will turn Azamgarh to Aryamgarh, and there should be no doubt about it.”
This statement created a buzz with people speculating that Yogi Adityanath might have dropped a hint at changing the name of Azamgarh to Aryamgarh.
SP leader Abu Azmi insults actor Kangana Ranaut, calls her BJP’s bootlicker
Further, when Abu Azmi was asked what he thought about Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut’s Independence ki ‘bheek’ remark, he was quick to launch an ad hominem attack on the national award-winning actress.
The SP leader said that Kangana Ranaut “ek talve chatne vali aurat hain, use jail bhej dena chahiye” (she is a bootlicker, she should be sent to jail). Without explicitly taking the name of BJP, Azmi added that Kangana Ranaut fawns over the party which she said brought real freedom to India after 2014.
When the news anchor tries to warn Abu Azmi about the perils of making such remarks about a woman, the SP leader exhibited no remorse. In fact, he brazened it out saying “kahen diya so kahen diya” (I have said what I had to), “koi afsos nahi hain” (I have no regrets).
Earlier, Kangana Ranaut had stoked up controversy after she said that India attained real freedom only in 2014 when the Narendra Modi government came to power. She had described India’s independence in 1947 from the British as ‘bheek’ (alms). After her comment drew ire, Kangana had gone on to defend herself and said that she would return her Padma award if she is proven wrong. Amidst all this, veteran actor Vikram Gokhale on Sunday extended his support to Kangana Ranaut in her statement that India attained true independence only after 2014.
