Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJP, accusing it of failing to deliver on promises of defence manufacturing in Uttar Pradesh while allegedly snatching land from poor farmers in the name of development.
Speaking at a press conference in Bundelkhand, Yadav mocked the BJP's earlier claims of building indigenous defence capability in the region. “They had lied that they will manufacture fighter pilots, missiles. If these missiles, arms, ammunitions were made in our Bundelkhand, then we didn’t need to import it from different countries. But we have heard that in Jhansi and Bundelkhand, they didn’t even make any sutli bombs,” he said.
He further accused the BJP government of betraying the region’s farmers. “The people of BJP is snatching lands of the farmers... We do not want our farmers to get cheated. We want to help the farmers of Jhansi. We want farmers to get rate of their lands at market price,” Yadav said.
Referring to the Ayodhya land controversy, Yadav warned the ruling party against repeating similar mistakes. “BJP should not forget they tried to differentiate on the land of Lord Shri Ram and hence they were defeated in Ayodhya. BJP snatched and looted the lands of poor of Ayodhya. It was message to the country that it was the end of communal politics.”
Highlighting the plight of thousands of farmers allegedly being forced to give up their land without fair compensation, the SP leader said: “This is an important issue of Jhansi in Bundelkhand. Lands of 25 thousand farmers is being usurped through the authority... Our farmers sometimes do not understand and are misled into signing documents, after which they lose their rights.”
The former chief minister also accused the government of selling public institutions for private profit. “The government is selling JPNIC (Jai Prakash Narayan International Center). We are also ready to buy it at the same price on which the government is selling,” Yadav added.
In a pointed reference to a social media post by BJP seeking “volunteers,” Yadav questioned the party’s intentions. “How does BJP know war will happen? How do they know? Their IT cells, media cells have said they need volunteers. BJP is not serious even on the issue of security.”
