Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Samajwadi party national president Akhilesh Yadav.
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI

New Delhi:

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has urged the Uttar Pradesh government to extend the duration of the Maha Kumbh, citing the overwhelming number of devotees on the roads still hoping to attend. Mr Yadav claimed that in previous years, the Maha Kumbh and Kumbh Mela lasted for 75 days, whereas the current schedule is shorter. 

“Even now, many people want to go to Maha Kumbh but cannot. In such a situation, the government should extend the time limit of Maha Kumbh,” Mr Yadav said.

Visuals on social media show packed trains, congested roads and massive crowds all heading to the Maha Kumbh. Earlier this week, roads leading to the Maha Kumbh Mela witnessed severe traffic congestion stretching for kilometres. The Prayagraj Sangam railway station was forced to shut down temporarily due to the overwhelming crowd.

Mr Yadav also accused the state government of concealing the true number of deaths caused by a stampede at the Maha Kumbh last month. 

The Maha Kumbh, the world’s largest spiritual gathering, began on January 13 and is set to conclude on February 26, coinciding with Maha Shivaratri. According to state government data, over 50 crore people have taken holy dip at the Sangam till Friday evening – which is more than the combined population of Russia and the United States. 

Over 92 lakh had taken a dip till 6 pm on Friday alone, pushing the overall footfall at Maha Kumbh past 50 crore (till February 14), the state government said. 

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav speaks in the Lok Sabha on February 11, 2025. Photo: Sansad TV via PTI

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday (February 11, 2025) said that the Union Budget was “only for the rich people of the country”, and had failed to provide any roadmap for ‘Viksit Bharat’ (developed India).

Participating in the discussion on the Budget in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Yadav also said that the Uttar Pradesh government had not provided the final number on how many people had died in the stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.

He questioned the absence of drones promised for surveillance at the Maha Kumbh. “Where is ‘Digital India’? They are not yet able to provide the number of the people who died or were lost,” Mr. Yadav alleged.

For the first time, the Opposition leader said, there was “a 300 km traffic jam on way to the Kumbh Mela” and “they used two Chief Ministers [of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh] to stop the jam”.

“What is the benefit of reaching the moon when you cannot solve problems on the ground?” the MP from Kannauj said .

The Maha Kumbh is being held at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh from from January 13-February 26. The stampede took place on January 29, ‘Mauni Amavasya’, one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. The U.P. government has said at least 30 persons lost their lives and 60 persons were injured in the incident.

Claiming that a few people held the entire wealth of the nation, Mr. Yadav said “the extent of the matter is such that free ration is being distributed to 80 crore people in the country”.

He said that in U.P., the “double engine” government was making “double blunders”.

Mr. Yadav said there had been no increase in farmers’ incomes, and the government should consider waiving off farmers’ loans.

New Delhi:

Maha Kumbh, one of the country’s biggest religious festivals in progress, was used by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today to hit out at the opposition. 

Earlier, the Chief Minister, and his party colleague Amit Shah have challenged political rivals to take a holy dip at Triveni in Prayagraj. Their target, ahead of the assembly election in Delhi, was Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. 

Today, Yogi Adityanath’s target was Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. 

Speaking at an exclusive interview with NDTV Editor-In-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, that was part of the channel’s “Maha Kumbh Samvaad”, the Chief Minister said a holy dip is the Opposition’s “only option” in view of the way the state has disappointed them every time.

The Chief Minister’s comment came in the context of a question on the assembly election at Milkipur.

Asked about the area, where he has made seven visits in the last six months, he said the BJP will win the constituency by a big margin.
This, he said, is because the people have now got wise to the false claims of the Opposition. 

“You must have seen that in the Lok Sabha polls, the INDIA Alliance conducted false propaganda. False propaganda was done to change the constitution, to end reservations, social media was used,” he alleged.

“Today people have come to know about it. Haryana, Maharashtra proved them wrong. There should not be any confusion that BJP will win Milkipur by a great margin,” he added.

Mr Yadav took a dip in Ganga on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. “Taking Maa Ganga’s blessing on Makar Sankranti festival,” he said in a post on social media platform X and attached with it pictures of him taking a dip in the river.

Lucknow:

Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav took a dip in the Ganga river in Haridwar on the occasion of Makar Sankranti on Tuesday.

“Taking Maa Ganga’s blessing on Makar Sankranti festival,” he said in a post on social media platform X and attached with it pictures of him taking a dip in the river.

मकर संक्रांति के पावन पर्व पर लिया माँ गंगा का आशीर्वाद। pic.twitter.com/Rx1ZRHsH7m

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) January 14, 2025

Though the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister did not disclose the location, party sources said he took the dip in Haridwar.

Asked whether he would be visiting the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, Mr Yadav on Sunday said he had visited the religious congregation always.

“Some people go to bathe in Ganga to gain ‘punya’ (virtue), some people go to give ‘daan’ (donate) and some people go to wash away their sins. We will go for ‘punya’ and for ‘daan,'” he had told reporters.

In 2019, Mr Yadav had taken a bath in Prayagraj during Ardha Kumbh.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal has said that the Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party have announced support to his party in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.

Mr Kejriwal, who is the former Chief Minister of Delhi, also hit out at the Congress for “partnering” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) discreetly. 

All the four parties – AAP, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party and Congress – are partners in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and had jointly fought the Lok Sabha elections last year. 

In a post on X on Wednesday, Mr Kejriwal said he is “personally grateful” to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also the Chairperson of the Trinamool Congress, for extending her support. 

“TMC has announced support to AAP in Delhi elections. I am personally grateful to Mamata Didi. Thank you Didi. You have always supported and blessed us in our good and bad times,” the former Delhi Chief Minister said.

TMC has announced support to AAP in Delhi elections. I am personally grateful to Mamta Didi. Thank you Didi. U have always supported and blessed us in our good and bad times.

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 8, 2025

Minutes later, Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien responded to Mr Kejriwal’s post, saying: “We have your back @AamAadmiParty.” 

On Tuesday night, Mr Kejriwal extended his gratitude to Samajwadi President President Akhilesh Yadav for his party’s support to the AAP in next month’s polls. “Thank you very much Akhilesh ji. You always support and stand with us. I and the people of Delhi are grateful for this,” he wrote in Hindi on the micro-blogging platform, as he shared a news report claiming that the SP will support the AAP in the polls.

There was no public statement or announcement either from Mr Yadav or the Samajwadi Party on the matter but sources said that he expressed his intent to support the AAP, after a press conference on Tuesday.

बहुत बहुत शुक्रिया अखिलेश जी। आपका हमेशा हमें सपोर्ट और साथ रहता है। इसके लिए मैं और दिल्ली की जनता आभारी हैं। https://t.co/as58s2ksDt

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 7, 2025

The Trinamool and the Samajwadi Party had thrown their weight behind the AAP in the 2020 Delhi assembly elections as well. 

Mr O’Brien had uploaded, on X, a video endorsing not just Mr Kejriwal as Chief Minister but all AAP candidates.

As the AAP swept the 2020 elections, Mr Yadav congratulated Mr Kejriwal on the big win. 

Meanwhile, Mr Kejriwal hit out at the Congress after its leader, Ashok Gehlot claimed that AAP leaders are delusional about its victory in the next month’s polls.

“They are our opposition. It’s their misconception that just because they have won the previous two elections, they will repeat their performance this time. The Congress is campaigning well and we know that the results will be good this time,” Mr Gehlot said. 

Hitting back, Mr Kejriwal said the Congress has made it clear that the “AAP is its opposition in Delhi”. “People also felt that AAP is the opposition for Congress and BJP is its partner. People also believed that BJP and Congress are fighting the elections together against AAP. Till now this cooperation between you two was secret. Today you have made it public. Thank you on behalf of the people of Delhi,” the AAP National Convenor wrote on X. 

Both the AAP and the Congress have been locked in an intense battle, over various issues, for quite some time. Though the two parties fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi under the INDIA bloc, they are fighting the assembly elections separately. 

The two parties had blamed one another for the poll debacle in the Capital during the parliamentary elections.

Last month, Delhi Congress leader Ajay Maken’s remarks that a tie-up with the AAP during the Lok Sabha polls was a “mistake” further worsened relations between the allies. The AAP said it will ask other members of the INDIA bloc to remove the Congress from the alliance, if the latter does not act against Mr Maken for his remarks.

Voting for the 70-member Delhi Assembly will be held in a single phase on February 5 and the results will be announced on February 8.

The Congress, which was in power for 15 consecutive years in Delhi, suffered setbacks in the last two assembly elections and failed to win any seat. In contrast, the AAP dominated the 2020 assembly elections by winning 62 out of 70 seats while the BJP got only eight seats.

Akhilesh Yadav. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday (January 8, 2024) termed the Ganga’s dredging in Prayagraj an “environmental crime” to grant contracts to a select group of people to earn money through corruption. The Kannauj MP shared on X a news clip of dredging in the Ganga for the Maha Kumbh.

“History has been a witness that rivers create their own paths. This natural flow is a self-made path for the continuity of rivers. Accepting this geographical truth, tampering with the flow of rivers is an environmental crime,” he said in the post accompanying the clip.

Maha Kumbh: Uttar Pradesh administration oversees installation of tents, toilets, solar lights, plants to give complete makeover

“The purpose of installing dredgers in the Ganga during the Prayagraj Maha Kumbh is only to give contracts to their own people and earn money from them through corruption,” he added, without taking any names.

“Where the rivers will meet should be left to nature, doing arbitrary things and forcibly changing the flow is both inappropriate and undesirable,” he said. “Doing so will have a bad effect on the biology of the aquatic life and natural ecological balance of the Ganga,” he added. The Maha Kumbh will begin on January 13 and conclude on February 26.