BJP targeting Jains: Akhilesh

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday alleged that the ruling BJP is targeting the minority Jain community and does not want it to prosper. The former Uttar Pradesh CM said this referring to central agencies’ raids on the premises of two perfume traders in the state recently. Both traders- -Piyush Jain and Pushpraj Jain--belong to the community. Pushpraj Jain is also a Samajwadi Party MLC.

Embarking on 10th leg of the Samajwadi Vijay Yatra here after paying obeisance to Lord Parshuram at a temple, he said, “The BJP is not only the enemy of development but also of minorities.”

On the raids on perfume traders in Kanpur and Kannauj, Yadav said, “These people are being raided as the people of Jain community are in minority. These people (BJP) do not want the people from the Jain community to prosper.”

He claimed that the money recovered during a raid in Kanpur (on premises of Piyush Jain) was that of the BJP. The money kept “inside the walls” and counted belonged to the BJP, he alleged. Yadav claimed that the BJP, in order to avoid getting itself defamed and justify its wrong decisions, is pointing a finger at the SP, in an apparent reference to party MLC and perfume trader Pushpraj Jain.

The Finance Ministry had said Rs 177 crore was recovered from Piyush Jain’s premises in Kanpur and it was the “biggest ever seizure of cash” by an enforcement agency.

BJP leaders have sought to link Piyush Jain with the SP, claiming he had launched the “Samajwadi Attar” (perfume)’ with Yadav’s support recently. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday categorically denied any links between his party and Piyush Jain, and mockingly said the BJP got “its own businessman” raided “by mistake”. He said the “Samajwadi Attar” was launched by SP MLC Pushpraj Jain. —(PTI)