‘Mistake of Digital India’: Akhilesh Yadav says BJP got wrong Jain raided, denies links with Kanpur perfume trader

The BJP has launched an all-out offensive against the Samajwadi Party over the recovery of a huge amount of cash from Kanpur businessman Piyush Jain in a raid by taxation agencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Akhilesh Yadav’s party of sprinkling the “perfume of corruption” all over Uttar Pradesh during their stint in power. 

However, Yadav not only categorically denied any link between his party and the accused perfume trader, but also claimed that the BJP got “its own businessman” raided “by mistake”. He said the “wrong Jain” was raided by the Central authorities, one who has links to the BJP. 

Yadav said that the SP’Jain is Pushpraj ‘Pampi’ Jain, an MLC whose latest perfume he had launched last months, calling it the “Samajwadi ittra”. “By mistake, the BJP got its own businessman raided. Instead of SP leader Pushpraj Jain, it got Piyush Jain raided,” he told reporters on Tuesday. 

Taking a swipe at the ruling BJP, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, “Due to the mistake of Digital India, it got its own businessman raided.”

In multiple raids by the Income Tax department and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs recently, around Rs 257 crore in cash, 25 kg of gold and 250 kg of silver were seized from Piyush Jain’s house in Kanpur as well as from his house and factory in Kannauj, according to an official. A Kanpur court on Monday remanded Piyush Jain to 14-day judicial custody.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Pushpraj Jain and Piyush Jain hail from the same neighbourhood Jain street in UP’s Kannauj and are in the same business, perfumes. 

The report quoted sources saying that Piyush Jain is a low-profile businessman who maintains a subdued lifestyle and still rides an old scooter at times. On the other hand, Pushpraj Jain is a politician who also owns a petrol pump and a cold storage unit, earns agricultural income, and has a house and an office in Mumbai. 

With months to go for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, BJP leaders have been attacking the SP over Jain’s arrest, claiming that the perfume trader had links with Yadav’s party. The SP, however, has been denying any link with Piyush Jain.

As the cash seizure triggered a fresh political war of words ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, Home Minister Amit Shah also used this issue to allege that the SP’s lexicon starts with ‘Apraadh’ (crime), ‘Bhaai-Bhatijavaad’ (nepotism) and ‘Corruption’. Modi also mockingly said this was the “achievement and reality” of the opposition party.