By Mohammad Tarique Saleem
Akhilesh Yadav, National President of the Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister, said that the BJP’s claims of development have been exposed after seeing the miserable condition of elderly people, women, and children struggling for water in Chitrakoot. People are saying, “Give us water today; what are we supposed to do with the dream of a developed India by 2047?”
Yadav said that as long as the BJP’s “highly corrupt” government remains in power, water tanks under the Jal Jeevan Mission will continue to collapse, and the slogan ‘Har ghar jal’ (Water for every household) will remain only on walls. He remarked that if someone again holds an “independent” person hostage, BJP leaders will simply say that it was not right. He added, “If the BJP goes, water will come,” and that every thirsty person today is saying they do not want the BJP.
While talking to Arabian Times, Yadav further stated that the anti-development BJP government has failed in every sector. According to him, under the BJP government, public funds have only been looted through budgets, with money being distributed through commissions and corruption. This, he said, is why water tanks are collapsing in some places, bridges are falling in others, and roads are deteriorating. He accused the BJP government of being deeply corrupt and of misleading the public in the name of river-cleaning projects.
He said that all BJP promises have proven false. Rivers have dried up and are polluted, while sewage from cities is flowing directly into them. He alleged that funds allocated for river-cleaning projects were misappropriated during the BJP’s tenure. He claimed that the BJP failed even to clean the Ganga River, and that the condition of the Yamuna River is particularly poor.
Yadav said that the Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow is an example of how rivers can be cleaned and maintained. He stated that the Samajwadi Party government had undertaken historic work in river conservation and developed a world-class riverfront on the Gomti River. According to him, this is the proper way to keep rivers clean. However, he alleged that the BJP government has ruined these efforts and described the BJP government as an enemy of development.
