The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) accusation that its leaders conducted a political meeting inside a mosque near Parliament, asserting that the gathering was social in nature. The SP also accused the ruling party of deliberately misleading the public to divert attention from pressing issues such as the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and an alleged "intelligence failure" related to the recent Pahalgam attack.
The controversy erupted after BJP leaders circulated a photograph showing SP president Akhilesh Yadav, MPs Mohibulla Nadvi, who also serves as Imam of the mosque, Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav, Zia ur Rahman Barq, and others seated inside the mosque premises. The image was used to allege that a political meeting had taken place.
Amit Malviya, head of the BJP’s IT department, took to social media platform X to claim that the SP chief had conducted a political discussion at the mosque near Parliament.
"These are the same people who distanced themselves from the grand inauguration of the Ram Temple (22 January 2024), calling it a 'political project'... This is not 'secularism', but hypocrisy for the sake of vote bank," Malviya stated, sharing the photograph in question.
Responding to the BJP's claims, Akhilesh Yadav said: "The BJP is a group of people of negative mindset. Faith is positive, it unites. The BJP gets upset with anything that unites. They want negativity, faith is for positive people. Faith unites, ensures brotherhood, it increases love and respect among people." Speaking to reporters in the Parliament House Complex, he added, "We do politics of uniting people, bringing them together."
SP MP Dimple Yadav also addressed the media regarding the matter. "Imam sahab is our MP, his wife was also there, we had gone for a social (gathering), there was no meeting," she clarified. "The BJP always tries to mislead to divert from real issues. The government neither wants to speak on SIR nor on the intelligence failure in the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. In order to hide facts, such things are being said," she added.
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari further amplified the party’s criticism by sharing the same photograph and labelling the SP as "blatantly anti-Hindu".
"SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav holds a political meeting inside the mosque near Parliament. This is the same leader who boycotted the grand inauguration of the Ram Mandir on 22nd January 2024, dismissing it as a 'political project'," Bhandari asserted.
(With inputs from PTI)
