Key Points

Addressing a press conference, Yadav said the BJP was misusing bulldozers and government machinery, with the active support of party workers and the local administration, to forcibly acquire land.

He particularly pointed to Gorakhpur, the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, claiming irregularities in land registration there.

"The people of Gorakhpur should ask in whose name the maximum number of registries have been done," Yadav said.

"If the truth about Gorakhpur comes out, the government will have to build a custody corridor there instead of passing on any inheritance. Compensation for land and houses is not being given fairly. The administration is pressuring locals into signing consent papers, using the police to instill fear, just so they don't have to pay proper compensation," Akhilesh Yadav alleged.

Accusing the government of cheating locals, he added, “People lost land in Ayodhya, came close to losing it in Banaras, and now Gorakhpur is next. It’s not just Gorakhpur’s land that’s being targeted -- this mindset was also visible in Lucknow. Even their own advisor had to resign. I don’t know who he was colluding with -- those he aligned with have now fled the country.”

Yadav also took aim at the RSS, criticising its demand to remove the words ‘Socialist’ and ‘Secular’ from the Preamble of the Constitution.

“Those who oppose the reservation don’t say it openly. Instead, they target the concepts of secularism and socialism. Their opposition to reservation is masked in these attacks,” he said.

Yadav accused the BJP and its ideological allies of trying to polarise voters. “They want to get votes by spreading hatred,” he alleged.

- IANS