After PM Modi said cycles were used by terrorists, Akhilesh Yadav hit back declaring that an “insult to the cycle is an insult to the entire nation”.
Akhilesh Yadav fired back at PM Modi’s “terrorists choosing cycles” comment and his response was framed in a verse in Hindi on the bicycle- his party’s election symbol — as the “common man’s ride” and the pride of villages.
“The cycle connects the farmers to their fields, laying the foundation of prosperity. The cycle takes our daughters to school, rising above social restrictions, it races ahead, untouched by inflation; the cycle is the common man’s ride, the pride of rural India; an insult to the cycle is an insult to the entire nation,” Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, along with the image of a schoolboy riding on a cycle, smiling at a toy plane.
खेत और किसान को जोड़ कर उसकी समृद्धि की नींव रखती है, हमारी साइकल,
सामाजिक बंधनों को तोड़ बिटिया को स्कूल छोड़ती है, हमारी साइकल
महंगाई का उसपर असर नहीं, वो सरपट दौड़ती है, हमारी साइकल,
साइकल आम जनों का विमान है, ग्रामीण भारत का अभिमान है, साइकल का अपमान पूरे देश का अपमान है। pic.twitter.com/Nf1Bq2XtjE
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 20, 2022
He said that the PMs comment of “insult to the cycle is an insult to the entire nation”.
The Prime Minister of India had made condescending comments relating the Samajwadi Party’s poll symbol comparing it to terrorists, in the context of the 49 people convicted of the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts.
“Today, I am referring to this because some political parties have gone soft on terrorists. The blasts were executed in two ways. The first one was in the city at 50-60 places, and then after two hours, a blast took place in a vehicle in a hospital, as relatives, officials, and leaders would be going there. A number of people also died there,” PM Modi said at a public meeting in Hardoi.
“In the initial blasts, the bombs were kept on cycles…I wonder why they (terrorists) opted for cycles,” the Prime Minister remarked.
He also accused the Samajwadi Party of withdrawing cases against those accused in blasts in 2006 (Varanasi) and Ayodhya and Lucknow (2007).
The Prime Minister’s comment was heavily criticized because it seemed like a direct hit to all of India as bicycles are popularly used both in rural and urban India and to connect it to a terrorist symbol seemed very supercilious and inappropriate statement to the people of India.
The PM was campaigning on a day UP voted in the third round of assembly elections, in which the ruling BJP faces a stiff challenge from Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
The results of elections in UP and four other states will be announced on March 10.