Only the colour of development is permanent: Akhilesh to Yogi

Attacking the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over official buildings being painted saffron, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said today it will not serve any purpose as only the colour of development was permanent.

"We believe that changing colours will not change anything...It is only the colour of development that is permanent...Instead of doing anything for people's welfare, the BJP is involved in works that divert attention," Yadav told reporters here.

"BJP has also got toilets painted in saffron and showed disrespect to religion...They named toilets as 'izzatghar' and then splattered colour on that 'izzat' (honour)," the SP chief said taking a dig.

During a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had observed that a toilet he inaugurated in a village had the word 'Izzat ghar' (house of honour) written on it.

According to media reports, after some government buildings in the state capital, toilets in Amritpur village in Etawah, the SP chief's home district, were painted in an orange shade.

Locals had painted 100 out of 350 toilets, constructed by the district administration under the Swachh Bharat Scheme, orange, taking a decision on their own hoping it will get more developmental schemes for the village.

Alleging that the BJP spread rumours, the SP chief said the ruling party diverted people's attention from the basic issues.

"The domestic budget has been disturbed due to rising inflation and at such a time, the power tariff has been revised...Everyone needs to remain vigilant of the BJP," he stressed.

The SP leader said the situation had worsened in the past nine months.

"BJP men are making a mockery of law and order...There is no check on crime...girls are not safe, and it is anarchy all over...poor, farmers, youth, all are feeling harassed," Yadav claimed.

Stressing that the SP was development-oriented, Yadav called BJP "the most casteist party" and claimed that state government has stopped welfare schemes started by his government.

"Instead of finding shortcomings in our works, it will be better if they set an example by doing better work than us... But the BJP government's concern is not work. Their entire energy is concentrated on how to spoil good things," he said.

Noting that the recruitment process started during his government had been stopped, the SP chief said, "Not even two lakh youth have been given jobs despite the prime minister's tall promises".

The BJP government has also betrayed potato and cane farmers, he alleged.