Modi 'diverting' people's attention from rising crime against women: Samajwadi Party

New Delhi: The Samajwadi Party today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “diverting” people’s attention from “rising” cases of rape and crime against women across the country. “Not even Sambhal, cases of crime against women and rape are rising steadily across India. The Prime Minister is trying to divert the attention of the people,” SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters here.

He was responding to a question on the alleged gangrape of a woman in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. The SP leader, however, did not elaborate on how the PM was trying to divert the attention of the people. The party had convened a press conference to be addressed by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence.

Mulayam, however, did not attend the conference and instead his cousin Ram Gopal addressed the media on issues related to the Ram Manohar Lohia trust. The meeting of its trustees was held here today. In his various public rallies in the recent past, Prime Minister Modi has targeted the opposition for ignoring development, and turing a blind eye to the plight of the farmers.

The opposition, including the Congress BSP and SP, has in turn hit back accusing the BJP of polarising the society in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Referring to the Ram Manohar Lohia Trust, Ram Gopal Yadav said it would build a school and a community centre at its headquarters in Hydreabad. It would also publish several works of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia which have so far not be brought in the public domain.

Though Mulayam’s son and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch’s younger brother Shipval Singh are trustees, they did not attend the meeting. Shivpal Yadav’s relations with Akhilesh and Ram Gopal had turned sour during the recent feud in the Yadav clan.