Only those with families understand life's hardships: Akhilesh Yadav

Only those who have a family would understand hardships of life, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has said in response to BJP's 'parivaarvaad' campaign. Addressing a large public gathering in Bundelkhand's Lalitpur, Yadav enumerated welfare measures his government undertook between 2012 and 2017 for migrant labourers.

Yadav was on his second day tour of the region. He had visited Mahoba on Wednesday as part of his Vijay Yatra. BJP won all 19 assembly seats from the region in 2017.

Yadav referenced a Niti Aayog report to say the poorest in UP resided in Bundelkhand. He said the SP government distributed food kits which had ghee and milk powder, apart from flour, rice and potatoes, as the party was determined to free people of hunger and starvation. Under Lohia Awas scheme for homeless, people in Devgarh of Lalitpur were provided homes by the SP government. After the Modi government's national lockdown, labourers were made to stay in cow shelters without food or water, he alleged.

"I tell you this because people in power keep talking about parivaar. Only people with families can understand pain of families. Those without families cannot understand their sorrow," Yadav said in an ostensible dig at chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I also do not think CM is a Yogi, because only one who considers others' pain his own can be called a Yogi. This is what the Gita teaches us. Tell me if the CM qualifies."