BJP Laughing Because I Referred To Rahul Gandhi, Says Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday deplored the quality of education in Uttar Pradesh and recounted the day he was mistaken for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a child in a school when he was the state chief minister.

Mr Yadav was addressing the state assembly during a discussion on the state budget.

In his address, he attacked the BJP saying that instead of "ease of doing business", there was an "ease of doing crime" in the state.

"UP on education index is fourth from the bottom. This is the level of education in the state which gave so many prime ministers,” he said, adding that even Narendra Modi was PM because of the state.

"I had once gone to a primary school where a child did not recognise me. When I asked who I was, the child said ‘Rahul Gandhi'," Mr Yadav said.

Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017.

When the members in the treasury benches laughed at this, Mr Yadav said, "They are not sad about the level of education in the state, but because I took the name of the Congress leader." Putting the state government in the dock over law and order, Mr Yadav said, "There is no ease of doing business in the state, but an ease of doing crime. BJP men are taking law in their hands."

"This budget is all smoke and mirrors. BJP has a new policy in operation -- 'one nation, one capitalist'," he said, apparently accusing the party ruling the state of favouring big businesses.

Finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna had presented the annual budget for 2022-23 in the house on May 26.

Akhilesh Yadav said that the state government is claiming this to be the biggest budget, but every year the budget size becomes bigger than the previous one.

“Still no heed is paid to farmers, unemployed, women and cattle in the budget.” He said the BJP had promised to double the income of farmers by 2022 but the turnaround is yet to be seen. Akhilesh Yadav also took a dig at the ruling party members, saying sometimes they try to teach him "samajwad" (socialism).

He said Yogi Adityanath knows about socialism and has got a book too written for him. Mr Yadav was referring to the biography of the chief minister written by a senior journalist in 2017.

"If I am socialist, what's wrong with it? You are also a socialist. The money which is being distributed to farmers is also done on a socialist principle. Whatever you are giving to the girls is also based on the same principle," he said.

"If you raise a question mark on my being socialist then you are also not democratic. You don't trust democracy, and if you are not 'samajwadi', you also cannot be secular," he said.

The leader of opposition said this in an apparent counter to a remark made by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last week.

Yogi Adityanath had then alleged that the former Chief Minister had been dumping socialism which is still being held by Shivpal Yadav - his estranged uncle.

Attacking the government, Akhilesh Yadav said due its wrong policies, the condition of the housing sector was in a bad shape.

"The number of cows is also decreasing," he said, adding the SP government did maximum work in the field of dairy sector.

He said that the identity of Kannauj was due to its "ittra" (perfume), which has now been replaced by “gobar” (cow dung).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)