Lucknow: Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday pitted Krishna against Ram, stressing his god was more widely known and worshipped than the BJP's, thus implying a higher stature for him.
Samajwadi Party sources suggested the comment was part of recent efforts by the party patriarch and son Akhilesh, often projected as "pro-Muslim", to underline their Hindu identity while maintaining their perceived distance from the BJP.
"Ram is worshipped only in north India but Krishna is venerated in north and south India and enjoys international recognition," Mulayam said in Ghaziabad, 550km west of Lucknow, addressing a party-organised event ahead of a mass wedding of Yadavs.
"Ram has a large number of devotees but Krishna has more," he added, while underscoring the mythological claim about Yadavs being Krishna's clansmen.
Mulayam's remarks come amid plans by Akhilesh to unveil a 50-foot bronze statue of Krishna in Saifai, the family's home village in Etawah district, in late December.
This coincides with BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath's decision to install a statue of Ram on the banks of the Saryu in Ayodhya.
While Ram and Ayodhya symbolise the BJP's rise in national and Uttar Pradesh politics, the Samajwadis have thrived on Muslim and Yadav support.
As Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 1990, Mulayam had asked his police to fire on kar sevaks in Ayodhya --- a decision that, he admitted at a Samajwadi workers' meeting in March 2015, continued to cost the party Hindu votes.
A senior Samajwadi politician said on condition of anonymity that Mulayam and Akhilesh planned to widen their vote base by reminding the majority community that they were devotees of Hindu gods and goddesses.
"After the party's defeat in this year's February-March Assembly elections, Akhilesh has stressed several times that he is a Hindu. It's a strong statement from someone known for banking on the Muslim-Yadav combine," the source said.
"Our party's graph has been declining since 2014, and Mulayam and Akhilesh obviously feel the need to do something to turn the tide."
