Samajwadi Party workers in Varanasi celebrated its chief Akhilesh Yadav's 50th birthday on Saturday by cutting a tomato-shaped cake and distributing tomatoes among people to underline its rising price.
In Amethi district, party workers wrote "HBD AKHILESH JI" using paddy seedlings on an irrigated field.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati greeted Yadav on his birthday.
"Birthday greetings to the national president of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav. May Lord Ram give good health to you," Mr. Adityanath said in a tweet in Hindi.
Ms. Mayawati wished Mr. Yadav good health and a long life.
In a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka Gandhi said, "@yadavakhilesh ji, wish you a very happy birthday. May God keep you healthy and give you a long life." A Samajwadi Party worker who organised the celebration in Varanasi said they could have distributed sweets but "even the sweets have become expensive".
"We always celebrate the birthday of our leader with pomp. But, this time, the price rise is at an all-time high. We could have distributed sweets but even the sweets have become expensive. Tomatoes are priced at ₹120 per kg. In our villages, we eat chapatis with tomato chutney, but even that is being snatched away from our plates," Ajay Fauji told PTI.
"So, we are distributing tomatoes, and also cutting a cake resembling a tomato," he said.
The event was held in Peer Govardhanpur in the Rohania assembly segment of the Varanasi parliamentary constituency.
Mr. Fauji also said tomatoes weighing 250 gram were distributed to 50-60 families each on Saturday.
On the celebration in Amethi, district unit president Ram Udit Yadav said Akhilesh Yadav is concerned about the welfare of every section of society, be it farmers, labourers or the oppressed classes.
"He fights for their cause, and hence farmers and labourers of Amethi assembly constituency celebrated his birthday in a paddy field," he said.
At the party office in Lucknow, SP workers observed the birthday of their party chief as Lok Kalyan Divas. The area around the party office was decked up with red posters and one of the them, which became the centre of attraction, proclaimed Akhilesh Yadav as a future prime minister.
UP unit president of the SP Naresh Uttam Patel told PTI that the posters were put up by party workers. "I pray to the Almighty to fulfil the wish of party workers and people." SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that "Akhilesh Yadav is the leader of our country and the way BJP stopped him in 2022 from becoming the CM, people know this and our party workers want him to lead the nation." Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya took a jibe at the posters put up by the Samajwadi Party workers.
Mr. Maurya said, "First I want to wish him (Akhilesh Yadav) a very happy birthday. But, as far as politics is concerned, I don't see the Samajwadi Party even winning a single (Lok Sabha) seat (in the upcoming election). It is just a dream for them. They will not be able to win a single seat in Lok Sabha elections, let them dream about this." The SP chief greeted party workers and well-wishers inside the party office.
Born to Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and Malti Devi, Akhilesh Yadav is currently the Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, and has been a Lok Sabha MP four times.
He was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017, and a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council (once) from 2012 to 2018.
