Photos of Akhilesh and Azam thrown in dustbins as UP government offices gets rid of the past
Reacting to this campaign to wipe out the legacy of the Samajwadi Party by the Yogi Adityanath government, SP city president Raisuddin said the way the government officials were removing all stationery and other publicity material containing images of Akhilesh was highly objectionable.
In Short
- SP leaders have objected to the treatment
- Ration cards with Akhilesh photos will also be scrapped
- Officials threatened with disciplinary action for not following the order
Following the takeover of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP-led state government has issued instructions for all pictures and memorabilia containing photographs of Samajwadi Party mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to be removed from government offices, failing which the officials concerned could face disciplinary action.
The first instance of this action was seen at the Taj Mahotsav being organised in Agra where the District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal issued a warning letter to the deputy director of tourism Dinesh Kumar for running a documentary in the Mahotsav which featured pictures of the former CM. The DM immediately ordered the documentary to be stopped and warned the tourism department not to repeat such a mistake again.
With the district administration becoming strict on this issue, several calendars and publicity material containing images of Akhilesh can now be seen dumped in dustbins of government offices including the office of the district magistrate, where a calendar outlining Akhilesh Yadav government's developmental works was thrown in the dustbin.
IS IT FAIR?
Reacting to this campaign to wipe out the legacy of the Samajwadi Party by the Yogi Adityanath government, SP city president Raisuddin said the way the government officials were removing all stationery and other publicity material containing images of Akhilesh was highly objectionable. They should be honourably disposed off instead of just throwing in the dustbin.
Notably, the Adityanath government has already ordered 4 crore ration cards that had Akhilesh's image printed on the front page to be scrapped and reissued and recently the Muslim Waqf and Haj MoS Mohsin Raza had scolded his staff for not removing the picture of SP leader Azam Khan from the office.
Political pundits claimed that removing pictures of the previous governments is nothing new in a democracy, although the way it was being done could be questioned. They claimed that the Akhilesh Yadav government had used several public welfare schemes to the Samajwadi Party's benefit by either printing pictures of SP leaders on the publicity material or by naming the welfare schemes as 'Samajwadi'.
MAMMOTH TASK
Now when the Adityanath government has decided to remove Akhilesh's pictures from all government publicity materials it is proving to be a monumental task as these pictures had been printed indiscriminately everywhere.
A senior citizen said that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi treated SP mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav with dignity by inviting them to the oath-taking ceremony of Yogi Adityanath government, what the Yogi government is doing to the memorabilia of the past government is not in the same spirit and projects a harsh attitude of the new government towards the previous one.
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