Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Uttar Pradesh government, accusing the BJP of creating fear among people and targeting traders in the name of development. He alleged that the government was using intimidation to silence citizens and curb business activity.
Yadav said people were unable to run their businesses freely under the present government. According to him, the BJP’s policy was to instill fear so that people hesitate to speak. He added that every citizen has the right to express themselves.
He claimed the government had now set its sights on Dalmandi. “It takes years to build a shop but they want to bring it down in a moment. This is a narrow mindset. They are misleading people in the name of road widening. Their thinking is negative and they are snatching away livelihoods,” he said. Yadav alleged that pressure was being created through officials.
The SP chief said traders from Dalmandi and the MP from Dauli had approached him because the government’s actions had put their businesses at risk. He called the exercise a political demolition and said the BJP was targeting the area because it was unable to win elections there.
Yadav said the BJP had once promised to turn Varanasi into Kyoto, but instead the administration was busy troubling people. “For their political projects they are using divide-and-rule,” he said. He added that the government should visit areas like Dalmandi and understand traders’ issues. “They may give shops somewhere else, but where will the customers come from,” he asked.
He accused the government of selling off malls and halting projects started during the previous SP government. “Whatever metro is running today is because of us. We prepared the DPR for the Varanasi Metro. The BJP stopped it,” he said. Yadav also targeted the administration over demolitions in Lucknow’s Akbarnagar and alleged that officials had taken undue compensation.
He warned that the time would come when officials would be held accountable. “If you cause pain to people you will lose elections,” he said. He also alleged that demolition in Dalmandi was carried out because the BJP could not win there. “This government is on its way out,” he said, adding that traders in Meerut had also suffered due to BJP’s decisions.
Calling the current government the most corrupt so far, Yadav alleged that those involved in wrongdoing would soon be exposed.
Law and Order Has Collapsed, Says Yadav
Earlier, the SP president had alleged that the state’s law and order machinery had collapsed under BJP rule. He said criminals were carrying out murders openly and incidents of loot and kidnapping were rising. According to him, neither traders nor young women felt safe in the state.
Yadav said the government had nothing except hollow speeches, and that claims made by the chief minister and ministers about improving law and order were false. He cited recent cases including the rape and murder of a first-year BA student in Etah’s Saket area and the recovery of a deputy director’s body near the Georgetown police station area of Prayagraj. He accused the BJP of pushing the state into chaos.
