BY KULDEEP SINGH YADAV
Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav held a press conference on 2 August 2026 in which he sharply criticised the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government, focusing on the large-scale closure of government schools, the plight of farmers, paper leaks, reservation shortfalls and alleged corruption. Yadav opened by noting that the legislative session was due to begin the next day and that SP MLAs would raise a series of pressing issues in the Assembly. He accused the government of deliberately avoiding accountability.
On education, he presented data claiming that 26,386 government primary schools had been closed or merged during the BJP’s tenure. He contrasted this with the 1,13,938 primary schools that existed when the Samajwadi Party left office in 2017. Enrolment, he said, had fallen by around 28 lakh children overall, of which roughly 25 lakh belonged to OBC, SC and ST communities. The number of girls enrolled had dropped from 61.57 lakh to about 45 lakh. Teacher strength had also declined sharply: from around four lakh in 2017 to roughly 3.4 lakh, with over 62,000 fewer primary teachers and 81,000 vacant posts.
He further alleged that thousands of schools still lacked electricity, functional toilets for girls, drinking water and computers. The SP chief linked these closures to a broader attempt to deny education and jobs to poorer and backward communities. He recalled the party’s earlier emphasis on technology-enabled schools, free Wi-Fi, laptops and modern infrastructure, contrasting it with the present government’s record. Turning to agriculture, Yadav said farmers faced rising costs of diesel, petrol and fertiliser, the absence of a legal MSP guarantee, and the failure of the promised doubling of incomes. Potato growers in particular had suffered heavy losses, and loan waivers remained unfulfilled.
He also criticised the forced adoption of E20 petrol, arguing that automobile companies themselves were not advertising its claimed benefits. Corruption featured prominently. Yadav pointed to paper leaks in numerous examinations (with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest number), shortfalls in reservation in teacher and other recruitments, irregularities in police stations, tehsils and expressway construction, and alleged thefts of temple offerings and donations. He claimed that even newly built expressways had developed potholes within days of inauguration.
He asserted that the BJP’s approach systematically reduced government jobs through outsourcing so that reservation obligations and budgetary expenditure could be avoided. He said SP legislators would raise all these issues together in the House and expressed confidence that removing the BJP government would resolve the state’s problems. The press conference underscored the Samajwadi Party’s strategy of focusing on education, agrarian distress and social justice as the monsoon session approached, setting the stage for a confrontational session in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
