"Would you give Padma Vibhushan to any BJP leader": UP minister hits out at Samajwadi Party

Etawah (Uttar Pradesh) [India], January 27: Minister of Tourism and Culture in the Uttar Pradesh government Jaiveer Singh on Thursday targeted the Samajwadi Party (SP) and questioned if SP would have given the prestigious Padma Vibhushan to a Bharatiya Janta Party leader.
This came after SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was honoured with the second-highest civilian award Padma Vibhushan posthumously on Wednesday.
UP Minister Jaiveer Singh said, "SP people should ask their conscience that the way BJP has honoured Padma Vibhushan, would they have given it to any BJP leader."
"BJP takes decisions with quality and without discrimination," he added.
The mister also launched a scathing attack on SP chief Akhilesh Yadav over the remarks of Swami Prasad Maurya.
He said, "Akhilesh Yadav should keep his position clear whether he agrees or disagrees with the statements of Swami Prasad Maurya. The confusion is not correct. He should be thrown out of the party. The society is spitting on the views of Swami Prasad Maurya, he himself is seeing."
Swami Prasad Maurya is considered a prominent OBC leader (Samajwadi Party) in Uttar Pradesh and had sought a ban on the work composed by the 16th-century poet-saint Tulsidas alleging that Dalits and women have been "insulted" in Ramcharitmanas.
Speaking to ANI, the Maurya had said, "I don't have any issue with Ramcharitmanas but parts of it have insulting comments and sarcasm directed at particular castes and sects. Those should be removed."
"The government should take effective action and show sensitivity. It should see that the sentiments of any community are not hurt," he added.