LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP of using communal polarisation to divert attention from rising inflation and alleged that the ruling party was opposed to reservation for women, backward classes, Dalits and tribals.
Responding to questions about the BJP observing the 11th anniversary of the Muzaffarnagar riots and posters related to the violence being put up at some places, Yadav alleged that the ruling party sought to win elections by creating a communal atmosphere.
“Inflation is not an issue for them, nor is anything else. Look at how inflation is rising. What hasn’t become expensive? They are neither accepting that inflation exists nor addressing the problem,” he said.
Yadav alleged that prices were rising because the government was allowing its “people” to make profits and indulge in corruption.
Questioning the government’s claims of strong GDP growth, he referred to an incident in Jhansi in which a poor man allegedly could not afford to take his wife’s body home from a hospital or conduct her last rites and was forced to dump the body in a river.
“As an economist rightly pointed out recently, the GDP is zero because if GDP is growing at 7.2, 7.8 or 7.9 per cent, as they claim, then why is a poor person unable to take his wife home or perform her last rites?” he asked.
Taking a swipe at Lucknow’s top ranking in a national clean-air survey, Yadav said the city’s air quality should be assessed again after the rains end and weather conditions return to normal.
He promised that an SP government would work to improve air and water quality and protect the environment if the party returns to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2027.
Yadav also criticised the government over waterlogging in Varanasi and Gorakhpur, which he sarcastically referred to as “Kyoto” and “Spain”, respectively. He said those who could not resolve waterlogging in their own cities could not effectively tackle flood-related problems elsewhere.
He further alleged irregularities in highways and expressways built under the BJP government and accused the ruling party of involvement in “Ram temple donation theft”.
Asked about BSP president Mayawati expelling her nephew Akash Anand from the party, Yadav described it as an internal matter.
“It is a decision of their party. People from other parties cannot say anything about it,” he said.
When asked whether the SP would consider inducting Anand if he wished to join the party, Yadav said, “If you bring him, we will take him.”
On the BJP sharing AI-generated videos featuring leaders of other parties on social media, Yadav told reporters, “The BJP is nobody’s own.”
Yadav also announced that the SP would prepare separate district-level manifestos for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in addition to its state-wide manifesto. He said local concerns were often overlooked when election campaigns focused on issues concerning the entire state.