In a veiled attack on the BJP-led central government, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday wondered why the country's borders were shrinking and how free was its press.
Yadav attended the special prayers at Aishbagh Eidgah here on Eid-ul-Fitr and greeted people on the occasion.
"People are noticing that our country that was once developing, what is the state of law and order here now, what is our unemployment level, how free our press is, where are we standing on the parameters of health and poverty index? Why are our borders shrinking?" Yadav said without taking any names.
"People are going to vote on these issues and they have decided to bring a change," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said after initially declining to make any political comments "at the time of festivities".
Earlier in the day, the Congress targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "ineffective and feeble" response to China for its border transgressions, and demanded that he apologises to 140 crore Indians for his June 2020 statement that no one has entered India nor has anyone occupied any post.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that in his interview to Newsweek magazine, "the Prime Minister was at his cowardly worst".
In the interview with Newsweek, Modi asserted that stable and peaceful relations between India and China are important for the entire region and the world, and expressed hope that through positive and constructive bilateral engagement at the diplomatic and military levels, the two countries will be able to restore and sustain peace and tranquillity at their borders.
