Lucknow: Daaru, tharra and whiskey laced the verbal duel between the Samajwadi Party and Uttar Pradesh minister of state for excise and prohibition, Nitin Agarwal, Thursday as the two sides accused each other of patronising “goons”.
Nitin, a former SP leader, called party chief Akhilesh Yadav “Aurangzeb” for having “humiliated” his own father Mulayam Singh Yadav in the past, while the SP hit back calling the minister’s father, former SP leader Naresh Agarwal, “tharra Naresh” and a “mausam vaigyanik” (a weather vane).
“Daaru mein jise bhagwan dikhe, woh hai tharra Naresh. Daaru mantri hai jiska ladka, woh hai rum, whiskey, gin premi tharra Naresh (the one who saw God in liquor, that is country-liquor loving Naresh. Whose son is the minister of alcohol, that is rum, whiskey, gin loving Naresh),” the SP tweeted in an attack on Naresh Agarwal who had quit the party to join the BJP in 2018.
The SP’s tweet was in response to Nitin attacking Akhilesh Yadav on Twitter: “Pitaji ko jisne baizzat kiya, chacha ko diya sandesh, Samajwadi ke naam par, Aurangzeb hai Akhilesh.”
पिताजी को बेइज्जत किया, चचा को दिया संदेश,
समाजवाद के नाम पर औरंगजेब है अखिलेश!#AurangzebHaiAkhilesh
— Nitin Agarwal (@nitinagarwal_n) August 25, 2022
Nitin, who had rebelled against the SP in 2021 and formally resigned from the party earlier this year, later told ThePrint that he called Akhilesh Aurangzeb because the Mughal ruler had incarcerated his own father and assumed power himself.
“I know the truth about SP. In a press conference, Akhilesh humiliated his father Mulayam Singh. The arrogance that he is high on is not getting ruptured. The arrogance persists and he believes he is still the chief minister. This is the reason for his political downfall. He has duped the ones who took him forward and he is no one’s benefactor, which is why UP’s public threw SP out of power,” he said.
The latest round of the verbal duel between the two sides had begun hours after the SP targeted Nitin for his comment that the party has been giving “patronage to goons and mafias”.
Speaking to media persons in Gonda Wednesday, Nitin had backed Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati who, in a tweet, had said the SP is a party that gives patronage to criminal elements.
“This is true that Samajwadi Party has been giving patronage to goons and mafias and it continues to do it. I think that this has become its culture, so much so that if SP’s name is taken somewhere, a picture of goons-mafias comes to mind naturally,” Nitin said.
Reacting to Nitin’s tweets Thursday, Manoj Singh ‘Kaka’, SP spokesperson, said that whatever stature Nitin and his father have earned today is because of the SP.
“He [Nitin] should think before speaking about our national president. He should think and understand that a decorum and level of dialogue should be maintained. Everybody knows the kind of statements that have been made by his father Naresh Agarwal about Lord Rama. What can be expected from a party which harbours those who felicitate the rapists of Bilkis Bano,” he said, referring to the news of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) felicitating the 11 convicts granted remission by Gujarat government.
Also read: ‘SP doesn’t need anyone’s advice’ — BSP tie-up latest sore point for Akhilesh & ally Rajbhar
War of words
Targeting the MoS for his comments on the SP associating with “goons”, the party’s official handle tweeted an old news clipping of a statement made by Nitin on how he had once told the UP police to not enter homes where raw liquor is prepared, otherwise, he “will have to do something about it”.
“Listen, Nitin Agarwal, are you making statements under influence of the same kacchi-pucci (raw alcohol) desi-English (wine) in accordance with the department you represent? Oh, son of Naresh, the mausam vaigyanik who stays under the influence all day, this is your statement. And going by this, you are the one who gives patronage to goons,” the SP tweeted.
सुनो @nitinagarwal_n !
क्या जिस विभाग के मंत्री हो उसके हिसाब से कच्ची पक्की देसी विदेशी पीकर टुन्न होकर बयानबाजी कर रहे हो क्या ?
हे मौसम विज्ञानी सुरा प्रभाव में दिनभर रहने वाले नरेश पुत्र !
ये तुम्हारा ही बयान है ,इस बयान के हिसाब से गुंडों को संरक्षण देने वाले तो तुम हुए ? https://t.co/Ghi9bryKoY pic.twitter.com/CpxZD7Vc9j
— SamajwadiPartyMedia (@MediaCellSP) August 24, 2022
In his response to the SP, Nitin labelled Akhilesh as “Aurangzeb”.
“The party whose chief is known as Aurangzeb, who has been disrespecting his honourable father often under the influence of some foreign intoxicant. We can only expect such kind of language from him and his party. He could not be faithful to his father; how can he be expected to be faithful to the public?” Nitin tweeted.
Doubling down on the Aurangzeb reference, he also wrote that Akhilesh — who has humiliated his father and “sent a message” to his estranged uncle and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party chief Shivpal Yadav — is an “Aurangzeb” pretending to be a socialist.
As the war online continued, the SP media cell also tweeted an old video of Naresh Agarwal in which he had made purportedly controversial comments about Hindu Gods Vishnu, Rama, Sita and Hanuman in the Rajya Sabha in 2017.
Nitin’s father, Naresh, has jumped ships several times in his career and been associated with the Congress, BSP and SP before he joined the BJP in 2018. In October 2021, his son Nitin became the deputy speaker backed by the BJP while he was still an SP MLA. He resigned from the SP in January.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: End voting rights for Muslims if they aren’t allowed to vote says Azam Khan, alleges harassment