‘Their (BJP) speeches only on parivarvad and how to divide Hindu, Muslim brothers’: Dharmendra Yadav

The campaign has been great so far. In Azamgarh, the issues are the same that are prevalent across the country. The biggest issue right now is to save democracy, the Constitution and reservation. The fight for freedom is being fought by us, and it includes freedom of press too. The NDA will go, and INDIA (bloc) will be brought to power.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, Samajwadi Party had won all five seats in Azamgarh. But soon after, you lost the bypoll here. The day I lost that election… Outside this office, where I am sitting right now, thousands had gathered. And I had said that I have lost the election, not my spirit. I had said that we are very strong here, and then I had considered my loss here as an accidental one. There was a new government here led by Yogi ji. The officers here were doing “chaploosi” (bootlicking) of the government and wanted to impress the government by ensuring my defeat to make Yogi ji happy. We lost the election by a narrow margin, and Jammali sahab (former BSP leader Shah Alam who is now with the SP) was my opponent. These were the reasons for the defeat.

Let’s talk about the BJP’s allegations of ‘parivarvad’. Five members from the Yadav family are contesting this election. What do you say?

It happened in 2014, and in 2019 too. In 2009, we contested four seats. BJP doesn’t have issues to talk about, and cannot mislead people over inflation, unemployment, issues of farmers, smart cities. They are only giving speeches on pariwarwad and how to divide Hindu and Muslim brothers.

How do you compare this election with 2019?

They created a big balloon of dreams in 2014. In 2019 too, they asked for another chance. People accepted that too. Now after 10 years, people want ‘hisab’ (accountability).