Key Points
New Delhi: On Friday, the 122nd birth anniversary of freedom fighter and politician Jai Prakash Narayan, parts of Lucknow became a flash point between Akhilesh Yadav and the local administration after Jai Prakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC) was barricaded and police deployed to stop the visit of the Samajwadi Party chief..
Samajwadi Party workers also compared Akhileshs image of scaling the JPNIC gate last year to to offer floral tribute to the statue of JP Narayans successful escape from Hazaribagh jail by scaling its wall in 1942 during the anti-British struggle...
He decided to make it even bigger than those centres, he said.. Marinder also mentioned that three party seniors considered close to AkhileshMata Prasad Pandey, who is also Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the UP Assembly, Rajendra Choudhary, the partys chief spokesperson, and Ram Govind Chaudhary (former LoP)were closely associated with the JP movement that mounted a challenge to Indira Gandhi...
SP spokesperson Deepak Ranjan, a Kayastha, said, In 2018, on JPs birth anniversary, I organised an event under the banner of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Manch at the party office in which several Kayastha leaders, including MP Shatrughan Sinha, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, and former UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan were felicitated by him..
Akhilesh, said party sources, did not want the BJP to co-opt the legacy of JP like they did with Sardar Patel, given gthat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have also made social media posts on JP Narayans birth anniversary...
