Lucknow: Congress Legislative Party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Yogi Adityanath govt, describing the governor’s address to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly as a “bundle of lies and false promises” and claiming that even the governor could not repeatedly defend the BJP’s claims. Reacting to the address, Mishra said the fact that the governor read only select portions of the 55-page document and did not deliver it in full reflected discomfort with what she called the govt’s “anti-people policies and propaganda”.
“There was nothing new in the address. For the last 10 years, old works are being repackaged with new branding, something the public is well aware of,” she said. Targeting the govt’s claims on law and order, the Congress leader alleged that crime increased and that action was being taken selectively on the basis of caste and religion. She also accused the govt of presiding over a sharp rise in corruption, claiming it went up “ten-fold”. Mishra pointed out that lakhs of posts remain vacant in the police department, even as the govt continues to project a strong law-and-order image. On employment, she said the future of the state’s youth was being “played with” through outsourcing, despite the availability of regular govt jobs. “Instead of permanent recruitment, young people are being pushed into insecure contractual arrangements,” she alleged. Mishra also questioned the govt’s claims on healthcare, referred to in several pages of the address. She said while the BJP promised medical colleges in every district, many buildings were incomplete and hospitals were facing shortages of doctors, paramedical staff and medicines. On agriculture, she said the address offered nothing new, alleging that farmers did not receive urea and DAP on time and that some even lost their lives while standing in queues. She also criticised the Centre’s trade policy with the US, calling it detrimental to Indian farmers. Earlier in the day, Congress leaders, along with INDIA bloc partners, staged a protest at the Assembly premises near Chaudhary Charan Singh’s statue against unemployment, inflation, deteriorating health services and alleged manipulation in the SIR process to cut voters’ names.
