The Uttar Pradesh unit of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has attacked the Samajwadi Party for making the premises of a government hospital a political playing field.
Reacting to the “inauguration” of Ram Manohar Lohia’s statue by the Samajwadi Party president, Mulayam Singh, the BSP’s state unit president, Swamy Prasad Maurya said the Lohia statue situated in the premises of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Gomtinagar was “inaugurated on Tuesday by the hospital’s director, R.S. Dubey on the occasion of Dr. Lohia’s birth centenary”.
“The statue’s inauguration was in keeping with the Bahujan Samaj Party Government’s policy of paying respect to the eminent persons belonging to all castes, creed and religions”, Mr. Maurya said in a press release issued here on Tuesday.
He rejected the Samajwadi Party’s claim that its leaders were not allowed to garland Dr. Lohia’s statue. The Samajwadi Party has always tried to defame the BSP Government, Mr. Maurya said. The UP BSP president said permission for the Samajwadi programme had not been sought from the Lucknow district magistrate, or from the hospital administration, and neither was any written representation made by the party. Mr. Maurya accused the SP for causing a ruckus in the hospital, and alleged that the party workers were backed by their senior leaders.
Stating that many seriously ill patients visited the hospital for treatment, Mr. Maurya said the SP’s act created anarchy and caused several problems to the patients and their attendants. In order to maintain decorum in the hospital, the district administration was forced to prevent the SP workers from creating disorder and chaos.
