Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday launched his party’s perfume and termed it the “scent of socialism”.
Bottled in red and green bottles, the party said the special perfume is made out of 22 natural products, and is part of its poll efforts ahead of the 2022 assembly elections in the state.
An SP functionary, who did not want to be named, said the perfume is not for sale but will be distributed to workers and the public at the party’s rallies and other events. Around 1 lakh bottles have been prepared as of now, the functionary said.
The party claims it has deliberately chosen to manufacture the perfume with 22 natural ingredients as a result of the elections.
“When people use it, they will smell socialism in it. This perfume will also end hate in 2022,” said SP MLC Pammi Jain, who was in-charge for the product.
The perfume bottle is in the party’s colours of red and green, and also sports the SP symbol of the bicycle.
“This perfume will spread the ideology of Samajwadi Party across the country. It’s fragrance against the ideology of hatred,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said during the launch of the product in Lucknow.
He also took a jibe at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. “I want to send this perfume to him but I don’t know through whom I should send this,” Akhilesh said.
Prepared in 4 months, makers travelled across country
Speaking to ThePrint, Jain, the SP MLC from Kannauj, said he talked to two perfume makers from Kannauj, known for its Ittar, who travelled across the country for the 22 natural products.
“It took four months to prepare this perfume,” said Jain, whose family is associated with the business of perfume production.
He added that the 22 places included Hasayan town in Hathras, Mumbai and several other districts.
“Hasayan is famous for rose perfume so our team first went there and spent some days collecting natural products from there. Similarly they visited other districts too. After collecting 22 natural products, the smell of Kannauj’s sand was also added,” Jain said, while refusing to reveal the production cost of the perfume.
The SP functionary quoted above said the perfume is part of the party’s strategy to focus on hyper-local issues ahead of the coming elections.
“The Ittar (perfume) of Kannauj is famous and our party has a special connection to the area as Dimple Yadav (wife of Akhilesh Yadav) was a MP from there. So we decided to distribute it,” the functionary said.
He added that the SP is also preparing songs in Bhojpuri, Awadhi and other local languages as part of its poll campaign.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
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