Yogi Adityanath charges Akhilesh Yadav with waking up at noon and roaming around with a botal
The poll scene in Uttar Pradesh seems to be turning a bit intoxicated. BJP and Samajwadi Party, two strong contenders for the state Assembly when the elections get underway in a while, are battling it out over botal and bhaang.
Though not a very rare scenario when it comes to elections and related campaigns, parties throwing dirt over each other comes across as irksome for the impartial voter.
It isn’t just dirt that is being dumped on each other in this instance though. The battle has reached a crescendo with toxic remarks and ridicule that hint at the use of intoxicants spilling out in to the street.
It all started with a photograph. The picture that showed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav standing with a kulhad in his hand and a glass bottle in his jacket pocket gave state Chief Minister and BJP’s warhorse Yogi Adityanath a crazy idea.
Botal jibe from Adityanath and Akhilesh’s bhaang retort
Wasting no time, Yogi Adityanath went public accusing Akhilesh of waking up in the afternoon and roaming around with a botal (meaning bottle and implying a bottle of liquor).
Yadav, on his part, took it personally. The SP chief lashed out at Adityanath, remarking that the BJP is feeding Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath with water mixed with ‘bhaang’ (cannabis)! Clarifying that he drinks warm water and warm water can only be carried around in a glass bottle, he ridiculed Adityanath’s ‘botal’ jibe against him.
Adityanath’s ‘botal’ remark against Akhilesh Yadav is said to have come about because the bottle peeping out of the SP leader’s Nehru jacket pocket, looked almost similar to a bottle of a vodka brand made in Sweden.
However, the haste with which Adityanath went about accusing the SP chief as roaming around carrying a bottle of liquor attracted the attention of many. It was later revealed by India Today that the bottle in Yadav’s jacket pocket was that of a mineral water brand.
A visibly shaken Yadav took the battle into the BJP camp, charging the Chief Minister with consumption of water mixed with bhaang.
Leaders and their nasty behaviour
All said, the nasty jibes from both the leaders come in bad taste. Personal attacks are not rare in the midst of election campaigns. But going to the extent of accusing a rival party leader with roaming around drunk, and consuming bhaang, come as extremes.
With poll planks galore in the state, the leaders resorting to such indecent behaviour calls for the intervention of the election commission. Or else, such personal jibes and ridicules could go out of hand, and could lead to even nastier behaviour.
