Uttar Pradesh polls | Farmers have made up their mind to dethrone BJP, says Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav tore into the BJP on Friday over farmers’ issues, saying farmers are the worst sufferers under BJP government and they have decided to dethrone the party in the coming 2022 elections.

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“Farmers are the worst sufferers in this government and agriculture is in trouble. That’s why farmers want to wipe out the BJP. People have also made up their minds that BJP has to be removed,” Mr. Yadav said at a press conference.

The SP chief also welcomed former Congress MP Harendra Malik and his son, former MLA Pankaj Malik, along with other leaders in the party.

The former State unit vice president of Congress Pankaj Malik and Harendra Malik, who was a member of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s advisory committee, had quit the party earlier this month.

Mr. Yadav alleged the State government failed to save farmers’ crops by not buying paddy, and it forced the farmers to dispose off their crops by setting them on fire.

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“This is the country of farmers and farmers are losing their lives because they are standing in queues,” he said, referring to the death of some farmers in Lalitpur district allegedly while standing in the queue for fertiliser.

He criticised the government also over rising prices of petrol and diesel and questioned the per day hike of 35 paisa.

Mr. Yadav said even if the BJP changes all its candidates for the coming polls, it will be deposed by the people.

“Farmers take care of the country’s economy, then why is there so much injustice with them,” the former Chief Minister wondered and asked the government to reveal the number of centers set up for the purchase of paddy.

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“Five years are going to be completed, at least tell us whether the income of farmers has doubled or not,” Mr. Yadav said, referring to the ruling party’s pre-poll promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

He lambasted the government also over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying no other country in the world saw such large numbers of dead bodies as were seen on the banks of the Ganga River.

Mr. Yadav hauled the Yogi government over coals also for its erecting sheds around the crematoriums during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic.

He accused it of making people wait for long hours for the performance of the last rites of their dead.

“This time the public will put the BJP in quarantine,” he said.

Mocking the saffron party, Mr. Yadav said people in BJP not only have differences of “opinion” but also differences of “mathh“(holy seat).

“People of Purvanchal have made up their mind to close the entry gates for BJP with the help of the same allies who helped it come to power,” he said.

The comment was based on his party’s recent alliance with the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party( SBSP), a BJP ally since 2017.

Mr. Yadav accused the BJP also of having people as its members who caused the riots.

On infrastructure front, he claimed that the recently inaugurated airport of Kushinagar was built only through the budget given by the SP government.

He asked the BJP government why it replaced the company originally engaged by the previous government for construction of the expressway.

The company which is building the Ram temple in Ayodhya was removed from the expressway project, he said.

Asked about women candidates’ prospects in the coming elections, Mr. Yadav said it will depend on the candidates’ ability to win.