Akhilesh Yadav said the assembly polls will not only decide the fate of the state.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the ruling BJP of “polluting” the country's politics and said the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will also decide the fate of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
The opposition leader claimed that there is a wave against the BJP, which runs the government in the state and the Centre.
“There is a threat to democracy. By repeatedly lying, the BJP wants to present lies as truth. It not only polluted the rivers but also the politics of the country," Mr Yadav claimed.
"Now there is a wave against the BJP. People are fed up with it and are waiting to get rid of it and give the Samajwadi Party a chance in UP," he added.
He said the assembly polls will not only decide the fate of the state but also of the Central government.
In an apparent reference to recent Income Tax searches at the premises of Samajwadi Party leaders in UP, he said, “"Fearing defeat, the BJP is now bent on suppressing the opposition by misusing its government institutions.” “But this has increased public anger against the BJP. People no longer want to see an anti-democratic, anti-people government in power for long," he said.
He claimed that the people are associating themselves with the Samajwadi Party rath yatra in large numbers and called a similar exercise by the BJP a “jugaad”, or a make-do effort.
The Samajwadi Party had launched the Samajwadi Vijay Yatra and the BJP a series of six rath yatras that are now crisscrossing the state.
Mr Yadav also referred to the alleged mowing down of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri by an SUV in which some BJP workers were travelling. Union minister Ajay Mishra's son is among those arrested in the case.
The Samajwadi Party leader said the future of the youth is bleak under a BJP government.
"Young people have lost their jobs. No arrangement is being made to make girls self-reliant. Only promises are made. People are being misled by promises," he said.
He said the BJP talks a lot on “Sanskrit culture” but has not done much for the development of the language.
"The Samajwadi government gave due respect to Sanskrit language. We had given Rs 50 crore for Sampurnanand Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya, Varanasi," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)