Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday urged voters to “overthrow the party that forced you to stand in front of ATMs”, seeking to counter the BJP a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the erstwhile SP government of Uttar Pradesh of using the state as an “ATM of loot”.
Addressing a rally at the Mihir Bhoj College grounds in Noida, Akhilesh said: “Someone was here yesterday (Saturday) and talked a lot about ATMs. They remember ATMs because they made you stand in front of them (during demonetisation in 2016). Moreover, they are too happy to oblige someone whose name starts with A,” Akhilesh said, terming the BJP “the biggest liar on earth”.
Throughout his speech at the Samajwadi Samanta Bhaichara Rally, Akhilesh refrained from mentioning the BJP or Modi, but left none in doubt about who he was alluding to.
“I leave it to journalists to decipher what I mean,” he said at the public meeting that witnessed a huge turnout.
While inaugurating the Noida International Airport in Jewar on Saturday, Modi had said “the SP government used Noida as an ATM of loot during its rule (2012-17)”.
Akhilesh alleged that the airport was launched by the Prime Minister with the sole aim of handing over operations to his “favourite company”.
“He should have promised the people that Noida International Airport will not be closed the way some of the airports were closed after he inaugurated them,” Akhilesh said.
Kushinagar International Airport, inaugurated by Modi in October 2021, has seen no scheduled commercial flights since November 2023.
“He (Modi) also forgot to mention the gas cylinder. He has made you stand in queues for LPG also, but doesn’t explain the reason to you,” Akhilesh said.