Samajwadi Party boycotts U.P. Assembly proceedings

Representatives meet Governor over ‘harassment’ of Azam Khan 

The Samajwadi Party, the principal Opposition party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, boycotted the proceedings of the monsoon session of the State legislature on Friday and staged a protest march from Vidhan Bhavan to the party headquarters alleging that the Yogi Adityanath-led government had failed to discuss issues key issues such as unemployment, inflation and law and order situation. Friday was the last day of the brief five-day Assembly session.

An SP delegation, led by party president and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, also met U.P. Governor Anandiben Patel over the cases lodged against senior party leader and former Minister Azam Khan. The party alleged that false cases were being registered against Mr. Khan at the behest of the government.

Since the start of the session on September 19, the Opposition parties — mainly the SP and its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — have been trying to corner the government on multiple issues while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained that the government is correcting the loopholes created by the previous governments. The five-day session witnessed multiple adjournments as the government and the Opposition indulged in a war of words that resulted in very few issues being taken up during the functioning of the two Houses.

Addressing the legislators and party workers after reaching the party office from Vidhan Bhavan, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav said, “Whenever the Samajwadi Party raised the issues of inflation, unemployment, law and order in the Assembly, the government did not listen. Even today, the behavior of the BJP government was neglectful. There is no rule of law in the State. The BJP government is killing democracy. Today, there is no one to listen to the voice of the common people, the poor, the farmers and the youth.”

Mr. Yadav further alleged that unemployment continued to rise and the government was doing nothing. “Unemployment continues to rise. The youth are waiting for jobs. In Allahabad, students and youth are continuously agitating against the fee hike, sitting on dharna... People are not earning. There are no jobs, no employment. How will children be able to pay so much fees? The government is threatening students. The Samajwadi Party has staged a walkout from the House against the attitude of the BJP government,” he said.