LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday launched an attack on the BJP, accusing it of using communal politics to divert attention from rising inflation, while also questioning its claims of strong economic growth and alleging that the the ruling party opposes reservation for women, backward classes, Dalits and tribals.His remarks came when he was asked about the BJP observing the 11th anniversary of the Muzaffarnagar riots and posters related to the violence appearing in some places.Yadav alleged that the ruling party was trying to create a communal atmosphere to gain electoral advantage, news agency PTI reported.“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,” Yadav said.Yadav alleged that prices were rising because the government was allowing its “people” to profit and engage in corruption.He also questioned the BJP’s claims of high GDP growth, referring 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 perform 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.Yadav also questioned Lucknow’s top position in a national clean-air survey, saying the city’s air quality should be assessed again once the rains stop and weather conditions normalise.He said the SP would work on improving air and water quality and environmental conditions if voted back to power in 2027.Taking a swipe at the government over waterlogging, he referred to Varanasi as “Kyoto” and Gorakhpur as “Spain”, saying those unable to drain rainwater from their own cities could not be expected to solve flood-related problems elsewhere.He has often used the two names sarcastically for the cities.The SP chief also alleged irregularities in highways and expressways built during the BJP government’s tenure and accused the ruling party of involvement in “Ram temple donation theft”.Asked about BSP chief Mayawati expelling her nephew Akash Anand, Yadav said it was an internal matter.“It is a decision of their party. People from other parties cannot say anything about it,” he said.On whether the SP would take Anand into the party if he wanted to join, Yadav said, “If you bring him, we will take him.”Yadav also criticised the BJP over AI-generated videos featuring leaders of other parties on social media.“The BJP is nobody’s own,” he told reporters.Looking ahead to the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Yadav announced that the SP would prepare district-specific manifestos in addition to its state-wide manifesto.He said local concerns were often overlooked when election campaigns focused on the state as a whole, and the district-level manifestos would seek to address issues specific to individual areas.(With agency inputs)
