River cruise on Ganga has "Bar": Akhilesh Yadav attacks BJP
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Raebareli: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of allowing alcohol on MV Ganga Vilas, the world’s longest river cruise flagged off by PM Modi the other day.
The SP chief told media in Raebareli that someone informed him of the cruise sailing on the holy river Ganga as having bars that serve alcohol, according to NDTV.
Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the BJP saying that the cruise has been in service for 17 years, adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party has the tradition of re-inaugurating the existing things.
Yadav also said that since he has not been on the cruise only BJP can confirm the presence of bars on the cruise.
"Until recently, we used to listen to aarti on Maa Ganga and listen to the objects of devotion while we were sitting there. Whenever we went on a boat ride on the Ganges people explain what we can do and what we cannot as it is a religious place. Only BJP people can now tell if there is a bar on the cruise. We have not yet entered it," he reportedly said.
Yadav on Wednesday tweeted questioning the BJP’s original intent behind the cruise and a 'tent city', adding that turning religious places into tourist locales is condemnable.
The MV Ganga Vilas, flagged off by PM MOdi via video conferencing, starts its voyage from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh covering around 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, sailing across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh.