Akhilesh Yadav Criticizes BJP Over Inflation and Unemployment

Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav launched a scathing attack against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday, criticizing their handling of inflation and unemployment. Yadav claimed that the BJP has failed to deliver on most of its promises.

“People are angry because BJP did not fulfil any promises it made. Inflation and unemployment are at an all-time high. This election is not about Hindu-Muslim or India-Pakistan, but it is about protecting the Constitution. They are no longer raising the ‘400 paar’ slogan,” said the SP chief while speaking to reporters in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur.

Yadav further accused the BJP of depriving marginalized communities of reservations. “Earlier, backward classes, Dalit, and Adivasis were part of the General category as well. But BJP has tied these three classes into their category… If the minorities are well educated, they will get more jobs in the 40% block reserved for the General category,” he added.

The electoral battle in Jaunpur has witnessed many twists and turns, becoming a three-cornered fight between the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which changed its candidate at the last minute. Jaunpur is considered a Yadav-dominated seat, with the community being the traditional vote bank of the Samajwadi Party. In 2019, Yadavs consolidated behind the SP-BSP candidate Shyam Singh Yadav, ensuring his victory.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shyam Singh Yadav won the Jaunpur seat under the SP-BSP alliance by a margin of 80,936 votes. BJP’s Krishna Pratap Singh was the runner-up, followed by Congress’s Deo Vrat Mishra. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Krishna Pratap from the BJP won the polls with a margin of 1,46,310 votes.

Notably, Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of MPs (80) to Parliament, is voting in all seven phases. In the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 25, voting will take place in Bhadohi, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, and Machhlishahr.