Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday hit out at the State government of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over a spate of murders of his party workers in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the election results. Warning the BJP government of his party’s capacity to mobilise “junta ki takat (people’s power)” Mr. Yadav asserted that the administration would be sorely mistaken if it believed that the party would back away from the path of “sangharsh (struggle)” if SP workers could be done away with.

Mr. Yadav made his combative remarks at a thanksgiving rally in Azamgarh, where he convincingly defeated Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirhua, a Bhojpuri film star who contested on a BJP ticket.

The week after the Lok Sabha results were declared saw a spate of “political murders”, the SP alleged.

SP leaders have been murdered in Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Greater Noida, while a BSP leader and his relative were killed in Bijnore and a pradhan close to BJP MP Smriti Irani was murdered in Amethi soon after her victory.

“One BJP leader goes to Amethi [Ms. Irani] and says her worker is killed,” said the SP president. “Police rush to grab the culprits. Later we come to know that it was a BJP worker who committed the murder,” asserted Mr. Yadav. He continued: “So many Samajwadis lost their lives. When will the police, administration and the government wake up?”

Mr. Yadav also said that those who committed “injustice” and “betrayal” would face a lesson in future, adding that “everything will change with the instructions of the same government” and with time, hinting at action if and when the SP returned to power.

“I am not saying this because we lost [the elections] but we need to teach a lesson to those who did injustice. There is no other way in politics,” said a bristling Mr. Yadav.

The SP chief also targeted the BJP and media, without naming anyone directly, for portraying his party’s alliance with the BSP as just an “alliance of Muslims and Yadavs and Dalits.”

“We couldn’t fight for those whom we wanted to. We couldn’t convince those whom we wanted to because I have always said, and will say it again, that we don’t have the power to divert attention. Only the BJP has that power,” asserted the former U.P. Chief Minister.

He urged his workers and supporters to “dream” of 2022 and 2024, State and Lok Sabha elections, if they wanted to succeed.

On Tuesday, Mr. Yadav is scheduled to visit the family of zila panchayat member Vijay Yadav, who was shot dead in neighbouring Ghazipur a day after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results were announced.