Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday blamed the “dangerous policies” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the mob violence in Bulandshahr earlier this week, and said that panicked by their shrinking base they were fanning communal passions. “The Bulandshahr incident is a result of the ‘thoko niti’ of the state government,” the former chief minister said at a public rally in Firozabad.

Speaking at the rally held during the unveiling of a statue of a Kargil martyr, Yadav also warned the people to be watchful of the activities of the BJP and its leaders as they had mastered the art of confusing people and fanning communal passions.

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Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav who shared the stage with his son, with whom his relations had soured in the past few years, also targeted the BJP and said only the SP had “the power to defeat the BJP”.

He claimed that the BJP was pumping in money everywhere to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but he hoped for a victory for the SP. He said that the hard work of the SP cadres will ultimately see the party candidates win in large numbers.