Pahalgam attack reflects Modi government's failure: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday blamed "intelligence failure" for the Pahalgam terror attack and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of prioritising "propaganda" over addressing critical issues.

He demanded Rs 10 crore financial assistance and a government job for the families of each of the victims of the terrorist attack.

"The big question is how did the terrorists reach our home? This is a failure of the government. It was the result of intelligence failure.

"There were no proper security arrangements and forces could not reach there. Now people are also talking about Pulwama with Pahalgam," he said at a press conference.

Raising the issue of unemployment, he alleged that the government was failing to provide adequate job opportunities which was depriving the marginalised sections the benefit of reservations.

"The Bharatiya Janata Party government is continuously working on propaganda. We also have to remember that our issues are still unemployment," Yadav told reporters at the party headquarters after a meeting of the SP's youth wing.

"The way jobs are decreasing, people are unable to find work according to their qualifications. The government is unable to provide respectable employment. People who have degrees, who have degrees in good professional courses, have been made delivery boys, so they are unable to provide respectable jobs," the former chief minister said.

Yadav alleged that the BJP government is undermining constitutional rights and tampering with reservation policies.

"While the people in the government, from time to time, do not give all the rights ensured in the Constitution, reservations are also being tampered with. "Not giving jobs means not giving reservations. There has been a lot of political interference in education," he alleged.

About the all-party meeting held on the issue, he said, "The party has conveyed its views at the meeting. I can't add to that. You can ask the chief minister (Yogi Adityanath) who is talking big on the matter."

Alleging that corruption under the BJP rule is on the rise in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav alleged that the government has caught the weakness of officers and was getting "wrong deeds" done through them.

"Officers from other states (posted here) are doing corruption and investing money in other states. Corrupt officers are hiding at the chief minister's residence," he alleged.

Claiming "political interference" in constitutional institutions, Yadav said that his party workers are facing "discrimination and atrocities".

About Sunday's meeting, he said that the party has prepared a "PDA sankalp (pledge)" which will be distributed in villages.

It is about issues "related to PDA (backwards, Dalits and minorities) and is an attempt to make them aware to save the Constitution," he said.

On his party allegations that he was not allowed to land at the Kushinagar airport on Saturday, Yadav said they were told visibility was low.

"When there was clarity for five km, we were told there is low visibility," he said. Asked why he believed his flight was not allowed to land, Yadav jokingly remarked, "I went there after taking a bath. Maybe if I had used soap and shampoo, I would have been allowed to land."

In a barbaric attack, terrorists on Tuesday shot dead 26 people, mostly tourists, in in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, an incident that has spiked India-Pakistan tensions.