"Given So Many Problems To People": Akhilesh Yadav Targets BJP

The BJP government has subjected people only to shortages and humiliation, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged on Friday, asserting that 'Samajwad' is a synonym of 'Ramrajya'.

Mr Yadav made the allegation while addressing a public meeting in Bachravan assembly constituency here before starting the seventh leg of his 'Samajwadi Vijay Yatra' ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

The BJP government has made people only suffer from “dikkat, killat and zillat” (difficulties, shortages and humiliation), the SP supremo alleged.

"No government has given so many problems to people, as the BJP government. Today there is a shortage of everything. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were shortages of medicines, medical treatment and oxygen,” he said.

"People have never faced so much of 'dikkat' (problems), 'killat' (shortage) and 'zillat' (humiliation) in any government as it is in this government. People are feeling humiliated today, the BJP which is in power has been insulting people,” he said.

Alleging a shortage of fertilisers for farmers, the SP chief said, "Is anybody getting fertiliser? If you check fertiliser bags, you will find them 5 kg lighter (than the quantity mentioned on bags). I don't know from where does the BJP get to learn such things.” "As the price rise (of various items) is making its presence felt, there is a shortage of fertiliser. It seems they have learnt this (trick) from a Parle-G biscuit," he said, alluding to the alleged reduction in the number of biscuits in the popular snack packs with the same price.

"The price is the same but the number of biscuits has come down. The BJP too has similarly kept the price unchanged but has reduced the quantity of fertiliser," he said.

Highlighting the rise in fuel prices, Mr Yadav said the BJP has surpassed the Congress party in burdening the poor's miseries while enriching the rich.

"The prices of petrol and diesel have spiralled. They (BJP) has emptied the poors' pockets and filled the coffers of the rich. This was not done even by the Congress party. They have surpassed the Congress," the SP supremo said.

Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh said, "Even people in the villages have started using mobile phones and they know how to use them. But our Baba chief minister does not know how to operate it.” "Since he does not know how to use a laptop, he is not distributing laptops to youths. The laptops which were distributed during the SP regime are still working today," he said.

There is so much inflation and unemployment in Uttar Pradesh because the UP chief minister works 24 hours a day, he said in another dig at Chief Minister Adityanath.

After visiting the Lord Hanuman temple, Mr Yadav tweeted the last stanza of an eight-verse prayer to Lord Hanuman (Hanuman Ashtak) along with the deity's photographs and said, “Started the Samajwadi Vijay Yatra with the blessings of Lord Hanuman after paying obeisance to him.” In a subsequent tweet, Yadav also asserted that “samajwad”, after which his party has been named, is synonymous with ‘Ramrajya'.

“Working for the good of all, striving for the unbiased equity and equality for all without any discrimination is the key principle of both the Samajwad and Ramrajya. Samajwad, in fact, is a synonym of Ramrajya,” Mr Yadav tweeted.

“In Ramrajya, an environment of fearlessness is created, one is not attacked stealthily,” he said.

Mr Yadav visited Rae Bareli a day before the slated march of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the neighbouring district of Amethi.

Rae Bareli and Amethi both are considered bastions of the Gandhi family but Rahul Gandhi had lost the Amethi parliamentary seat to BJP's Smriti Irani. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, however, had been able to retain the Rae Bareli seat.

The Churuva Hanuman temple has been one of the favourite halts of politicians heading to Rae Bareli from Lucknow.

Both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have visited the temple on their way to Amethi and Rae Bareli.

In January 2018, after becoming the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi had visited the temple on his way to Amethi from Lucknow during a two-day tour.

Priyanka Gandhi too visited the temple in September while heading to her mother Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency Rae Barely on a two-day tour.