LUCKNOW:As the campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections heats up, speeches are coming down to 'initialism and jingoism'.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at one of his election rallies on Thursday, said, "The Samajwadi Party had created 'NIZAM' (rule) in Uttar Pradesh. Nizam means governance but for Akhilesh Yadav, it means -- N for 'Nasimuddin', I for 'Imran Masood', Z and A for 'Azam Khan', and M for 'Mukhtar Ansari'. I want to ask you whether you want Akhilesh's Nizam or Yogi-Modi's development Nizam (governance)."
Comparing Samajwadi Party with the BJP, Shah said that SP stood for triple Ps -- 'Pariwarvad' (dynasty rule), 'Pakshpat' (favouritism) and 'Palayan' (exodus) -- while the BJP represented triple V: 'Vikas' (development), 'Vyapar' (trade) and 'Virasat' (heritage).
Shah also attacked Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav for "glorifying" Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the run-up to the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
He said that in the Yogi Adityanath regime, there were no 'bahubalis' (musclemen), only 'Bajrang Bali'.
A day earlier, Amit Shah had said that the ABCD of Samajwadi Party was -- 'A' for 'apradh', 'B' for 'bhai-bhatija', 'C' for corruption and 'D' for 'danga'.
"BJP has wiped off this ABCD. When Piyush Jain was raided, it was Akhilesh Yadav who felt uneasy. Who does this money belong to?" he asked and added that in the BJP regime all alphabets meant development and harmony.
The Samajwadi retaliated with, "The BJP is now 'Bhartiya Jhoot Party' because it excels in speaking lies and setting false narratives."
Akhilesh called Shah's remarks "childish and immature".
"These words neither fill the stomach of people nor help in running the households. In 2022, the public will take them to the end (of the Hindi alphabet) (22 mein jantaa inkaa 'ksh', 'tr', 'gya' kar degi), " Yadav tweeted hours after Shah's 'Nizam' salvo against the SP chief. 'Ksh', 'tr', 'gya' are the three last letters in Hindi.
Congress leader Surendra Rajput, while commenting on the new trend, said, "When leaders and parties do not have anything substantial to talk about, they resort to jingoism and word play. It can make a good copy for the media, but does not serve any purpose."