BJP trying to intimidate marginalised groups by coercive tactics, alleges Akhilesh

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

“By targeting the leaders and public representatives of the Lodhi community and the Nishad community at times, BJP members and the BJP government are trying to intimidate the PDA [pichhde (backward classes), Dalits and alpsankhyak (minorities)] society by force”, Mr. Yadav said in a post on X.

With just months to go for the election to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Mr. Yadav said that the BJP, which faced a setback in the State in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, wants to overcome the disappointment of its “major defeat” by resorting to “coercive” tactics instead of democratic ones. “The BJP’s negative politics will no longer work. If the BJP loses this time, it will never return”, he said in his post.

On Friday night, the SP MP was safely evacuated by the police after a mob allegedly surrounded his vehicle and smashed its window. The matter started when the music system owner and organisers of idol immersion for Ganesh Chaturthi had an altercation following which outraged members of the ‘Puja Samiti’ sat on the road in protest.

The MP’s vehicle, which was passing through the area at the time, reportedly grazed a person from the crowd, leading to the attack. “I was returning after meeting flood victims and other people. I was stuck in a traffic jam at the crossing. Just then, slogans of ‘Pappu Nishad murdabad’ were raised. Seeing the party flag, people began hurling bricks and stones at the vehicle,” alleged the MP. 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 the allies, turning the sanatan society against the party and “ending 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,“ he said.

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