LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday cautioned the Archaeological Survey of India to “wake up before its credibility was crumbled by bulldozers”. He raised the red flag quoting a news report that a large part of a protected 17th century Muhgal era haveli was razed by a builder in Agra.
“Bhartiya puratatva sarvekshan vibhag jago nahi to chalane wale unke pratishtha par bhi bulldozer chala denge (Archaeological Survey of India, wake up else your prestige will be bulldozed as well),” Akhilesh said, citing a report about a builder allegedly razing the 17th century Mubarak Manzil which finds a detailed mention in Austrian historian Eba Koch’s book – The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra.
The party’s official handle condemned the manner in which the protected monument was razed, describing it as failure of the government to check the land mafia. “Protected monuments being razed by land mafia under the BJP government is extremely shameful. The incident in Agra has left a blot on the image of the country in the eyes of the international community,” the party’s official social media handle said.
Earlier in the day, Akhilesh accused the UP govt of spreading hatred and dividing the society. “Apart from spreading hate and dividing the society, the BJP is spreading economic inequality. Their agenda is to pitch different sections of the society against each other. In the new year too, the BJP has started spreading hatred,” Akhilesh said addressing party functionaries at the SP headquarters.
He said the people were seeing through BJP’s designs and its attempts to target the PDA community. He accused BJP of indulging in discrimination against the PDA. The SP, on the other hand, was committed to protecting the honour and dignity of PDA, he added.
