Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Uttar Pradesh government, alleging that it is deliberately ignoring the cause of education while promoting liquor trade in the state.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Yadav said that several schools that were shut down by the government have still not been reopened, leaving thousands of children without access to education. “The government does not want people to study. They have closed schools, and those schools remain closed till today. At the same time, they have opened liquor shops in large numbers across the state. Uttar Pradesh now has more liquor shops than New York,” he said.
The former chief minister also criticised the action against teachers working in PDA schools, which were originally set up to provide education to children from poor and marginalised families. “Even the British did not commit such atrocities against schools. But today, teachers of PDA schools are being targeted and harassed. The government is crushing the very institutions that provide education to the underprivileged,” Yadav alleged.
Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll promise of “achhe din,” he said that instead of development, the double engine government has snatched away the rights of backward communities. “They promised good days, but the reality is that they have taken away the respect and rights of backward classes. The BJP has only betrayed the very people who trusted them with power,” the SP chief said.
Yadav also expressed solidarity with the 69,000 teacher recruitment candidates who have been staging protests over the issue of reservation in appointments. “These young people, who aspire to become teachers, are on the streets fighting for their rights. They are demanding justice on the reservation issue, but the government is not even ready to listen to them. Their future is being pushed into darkness,” he said.
Political observers believe Yadav’s remarks are part of a larger strategy to corner the ruling BJP on issues of social justice and unemployment, two factors that are likely to play a key role in upcoming elections. The Samajwadi Party has been vocal about the growing gap between the promises made by the BJP and the reality on the ground, particularly in areas like education, jobs, and welfare for backward communities.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders dismissed Yadav’s charges as “baseless” and politically motivated. A senior BJP spokesperson said that the state government has significantly expanded educational infrastructure in the last few years, including the opening of new colleges and technical institutes. “The Samajwadi Party is trying to mislead people. Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s leadership, the government has not only expanded educational opportunities but also cracked down on corruption in recruitments. The liquor policy, which Akhilesh Yadav is criticising, has brought transparency and boosted state revenue that is being used for welfare programmes,” the spokesperson said.
With political temperatures rising, Yadav’s latest attack reflects the opposition’s attempt to sharpen its criticism of the BJP government ahead of the crucial electoral battles in Uttar Pradesh. Whether these issues resonate with the voters will become clearer in the coming months.