BJP is trying to intimidate marginalized groups with coercive tactics, Akhilesh claims

Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav addresses a press conference at the party office in Lucknow on Saturday, September 19, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday (September 19, 2026) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the government both at the Center and in Uttar Pradesh, of threatening marginalized groups with force and coercive tactics. The remarks came a day after party MP Laxmikant alias Pappu Nishad’s vehicle was allegedly damaged in a stone-pelting incident during a Ganesha idol immersion procession in a village in Sant Kabir Nagar district.

“By occasionally targeting leaders and public officials of the Lodhi community and the Nishad community, BJP members and the BJP government are trying to intimidate PDA (pichhde (backward classes), Dalits and Alpsankhyak (minorities)) society by force,” Yadav said in a post on X.

With the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections just months away, Mr Yadav said the BJP, facing a setback in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, wanted to overcome the disappointment of its “major defeat” by resorting to “coercive” tactics instead of democratic ones. “BJP’s negative politics will no longer work. If BJP loses this time, it will never come back,” he said in his post.

On Friday evening, the SP MP was safely evacuated by the police after a mob allegedly surrounded his vehicle and broke its window. The whole affair started when the owner of the music system and the organizers of the idol immersion for Ganesh Chaturthi got into an argument after which the outraged members of the ‘Puja Samiti’ sat on the road in protest.

An MP vehicle, which was passing through the area at the time, allegedly grazed a person in the crowd, leading to the attack. “I was returning after meeting the flood victims and other people. I got stuck in a traffic jam at the crossing. Just then slogans of ‘Pappu Nishad murdabad’ were raised. When people saw the party flag, they started throwing bricks and stones at the vehicle,” the MP said. The police have registered a case in the matter.

Members “exposed”

The SP president also said that the Ram Temple donation theft case and attacks on the revered Shankaracharya have exposed “irreligious” BJP members and allies, turned the Sanatan society against the party and “ended its communal politics” “Now, in an effort to divide the loot among themselves, they are busy exposing each other’s secrets of corruption and dishonesty.”

Mr Yadav added that the SP was committed to creating a “fraternal nation” by ushering in a “government of social justice”. “This will give birth to a new vision and a progressive ‘neo-India’ based on the positive thinking of the youth… where no one will be persecuted, unhappy or humiliated,” he said. “The weak, the exploited, the deprived and the oppressed in every society will have the opportunity to flourish on the basis of equality,” he added.

Published – 19 Sep 2026 22:36 IST