'Narendra Modi not ready to accept reality': Akhilesh Yadav slams Centre over demonetisation, GST

Mathura: Slamming the Centre over demonetisation and GST, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not prepared to accept the reality of their impact. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also accused the BJP of misleading the people on issues such as the loan waiver for farmers and corruption. Yadav, while addressing the people at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Yadav Dharmshala in Vrindaban, said there was no other party that “lies as much as the BJP does”. [caption id=“attachment_3612509” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. PTI[/caption] From luring farmers with the loan waiver scheme to corruption and increasing the income of the common man, the BJP has “deliberately mislead the people to the extent that my party could not come to power,” Yadav said. He alleged that during the elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP did not give the specifics of the loan waiver scheme for farmers and later riders after riders were introduced which resulted in the majority being deprived of the benefits. Yadav claimed that demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) had forced the people to come out on the road. While small traders have been badly hit due to demonetisation and the GST, the youth have been rendered unemployed, he alleged. “It is sad that the prime minister is not prepared to accept the true picture of the impact of demonetisation and GST,” Yadav said. He also dismissed the prime minister’s assertion that corruption has been eradicated after demonetisation. BJP claims that by 2022, it would ensure that the income of farmers would double but so far the reverse has happened, he alleged. In spite of the claim of Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh that it has allotted Rs 400 crores for potato growers, Yadav claimed the potato growers of Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Agra and Mathura were not even getting the cost price for their produce. “The farmers are not even getting advantage of Kisan Durghatna Yojna,” he claimed. He held the Uttar Pradesh government responsible for the death of children at a Gorakhpur hospital. “The government data shows the death toll of the children in Gorakhpur as 60 but the fact is that it is in hundreds,” Yadav claimed. “Families, which had been waiting for an issue for the last eight years, also lost their babies,” he said. “The worst part of incident was that those affected were not provided any relief, while the Samajvadi Party has given relief of Rs two lakh to the victim’s families,” Yadav said. In his address, he also backed the demand of reservation for the Yadavs. “We don’t want to deprive the claim of anyone, however Yadavs may be given reservation on the basis of their population,” the former chief minister said.