New Delhi:The Uttar Pradesh government's gaffe on a leading newspaper advertisement on Sunday has turned into a political slugfest with leaders from various parties taking potshots at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
On Monday, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi joined the bandwagon in training his guns on Adityanth. In a tweet loaded with sarcasm, Singhvi suggested to Adityanath that if he indeed wanted to showcase development in Uttar Pradesh, he could have picked up a picture of the sports car racing track constructed during Mayawati's tenure or the Agra Expressway built during Akhilesh Yadav's regime.
In what could spark controversy, Singhvi also referred to Aditynath partly by his original name 'Bisht'. In 2019, a Samajwadi Party leader was booked for allegedly "hurting religious sentiments" by referring to Adityanath by his old name, Ajay Singh Bisht, on Twitter.
"Bisht Government picks up images from Kolkata flyover to show development in Uttam Pradesh. dikhana hi thha to Mayawati ka banaya F1 track ya Akhilesh ka banaya Agra Expressway hi dikha dete, kam se kam UP me to hai, (sic)" Singhvi tweeted.
Also read:BJP becomes a laughing stock by using Kolkata flyover in UP govt ad
A full front page advertisement, claiming Yogi Adityanath's achievements, on a leading newspaper on Sunday ended up in a major goof-up as the two pictures used to highlight his projects were picked from two different sources -- one a flyover from Kolkata and the other from a company called HSE Vision -- neither of them belongs to Uttar Pradesh. The newspaper, however, issued an apology stating the advertorial was produced by its marketing department and had since been taken down from all its digital media.
Another senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday took exception to Aditynath's 'abba jaan' remark wondering whether the saffron-clad Chief Minister wanted an inclusive Uttar Pradesh or push the British policy of divide and rule.
"Our Government wants: An inclusive Afghanistan. With his "abba jaan" remark, What does Yogiji want: An inclusive UP Or Divide and rule? (sic)" he tweeted.
During an event on Sunday, Aditynath had said there was no place for appeasement politics under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. "Before 2017, was everyone able to get ration? Only those who said 'Abba Jaan' were digesting the ration," Adityanath had said.
'Abba Jaan' is a term generally used by Muslims to address fathers.
