What Is UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s Issue With ‘Abba Jaan’?

Lucknow: Offence is the best form of defence. A day after facing flak for a faux pas in a newspaper ad that showed Kolkata flyover’s image to gloat over Yogi’s achievements in UP, the CM quickly diverted attention by unleashing his rage at “people who use  Abba Jaan to address their father.

It was clearly targeted at his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav, son of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

“Under PM Modi’s leadership, there is no place for appeasement politics… Before 2017 was everyone able to get ration? Only those who used to say ‘Abba Jaan’ were digesting the ration,” Adityanath said at an event in the state’s Kushinagar.

‘Abba Jaan‘ is a term used to address a father by the Muslim community. The swipe was also seen by some as one aimed for rival Akhilesh Yadav.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah commented on the communal undertone of the statement.

Last month, Yogi Adityanath had hit out at what he called the promotion of vaccine hesitancy by the opposition, saying some only took the jab after their ‘Abba Jaan‘ did, hinting at Mulayam Singh Yadav who got vaccinated.

“PM Modi actually changed the political agenda of the country. The politics that began in 1947 and was limited to caste, religion, region and language, family and dynasty, PM Modi made it for villages, the poor, farmers, youth, women and children,” Adityanath also said.

Yogi Adityanath is being challenged by Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress, along with other outfits in the polls due early next year.