Akhilesh Yadav, the Samajwadi Party chief, said on Saturday that the Bharatiya Janata Party had “betrayed the people of India by breaking their promises” and would pay the price in Uttar Pradesh’s coming assembly elections, where the ruling party is seeking a third consecutive term.
Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, Yadav rejected the suggestion that his party has an image problem and used the platform to dismantle the BJP’s development narrative, setting out an alternative agenda centred on social justice and infrastructure.
Law and order claim rejected
On policing — a central plank of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s administration — Yadav dismissed the argument that frequent encounters and “bulldozer justice” had made the state safer. “If law and order is better, what is the proof of that? The government says it is tough on crime, but data shows crime against Dalits, women and minorities has increased,” he said, citing National Crime Records Bureau figures. He also read out a list of what he described as strongmen to question the government’s record.
He pointed to examination paper leaks, protests by unemployed students and repeated corruption allegations as evidence that the BJP was more interested in perception management than in governing. Turning to demolitions carried out in the name of enforcement, he said: “You talk about the bulldozer as a symbol of law and order. But law and order cannot be maintained through bulldozers. Whose houses have you demolished? Whose homes have you destroyed? Those who were poor and vulnerable, those who had nowhere else to go. There are records of these actions.”
Yadav contrasted that with the Samajwadi Party’s 2012-2017 tenure, saying his government delivered the Agra-Lucknow expressway and that the project became a model for expressway construction across the country. “In 21 months, we built a six-lane highway that became a model, where fighter planes can land in an emergency. We built the 1090 helpline which the BJP government later showcased as its own,” he said. He added that the BJP had not carried out any new metro expansion in the state and that it spends on public relations to the tune of ₹2 crore a day.
The BJP has long accused the Samajwadi Party of promoting strongmen during its earlier stints in power. Yadav sought to recast the party as a vehicle of development.