Will you just remain a 'chhapamaar mantri' or take any action: Akhilesh's dig at Yogi

Image Source : FILE UP CM Yogi Adityanath (left) and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav (right)

Highlights

UP CM accused SP of causing maximum damage to the health and education systems during its government
Yadav alleged that the BJP government has remained insensitive over the question of people's lives
Adityanath added that the SP and truth are two banks of a river and will never come together

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had a heated debate over the state's failing health system in the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

At one point during the sparring of words, Yadav who is the Leader of Opposition pointed toward Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and asked him, "will you remain just a ‘raiding’ minister or will you take any action". Pathak, who holds the health portfolio, has been in news for making surprise inspections of government hospitals in the state.

CM Adityanath countered this by accusing the main opposition party of causing maximum damage to the health and education systems during its governments, while Yadav alleged that the BJP government has remained insensitive over the question of people's lives.

The Samajwadi Party members, who pressed for taking up the issue of the “poor” health system in the state as soon as the House assembled in the morning, protested in the well of the House and raised slogans, but later relented to Speaker Satish Mahana's proposal that it could be taken up after the completion of the Question Hour. Along with the SP, members of the Rashtriya Lok Dal also joined the sloganeering in the well of the House.

Yadav also cited different incidents, including that of a father bringing his ailing son to Lucknow when he did not get treatment in Sitapur and said that the UP Human Rights Commission has also issued notice to the government regarding this matter. The SP supremo alleged that ambulances do not reach rural areas and people are seen carrying bodies on their shoulders or taking patients to the hospital on handcarts.

"Just like no recognition is given to 'jholamar doctors' (quacks), similarly he (deputy CM) also has no recognition," Yadav said, adding if there is a dearth of budget in the department, the chief minister needs to make provision for the same. The SP leader said that his party’s government introduced ambulance services and made good efforts for the betterment of health infrastructure, but the present government is taking the path of privatization and wants to privatize institutions by closing them down.

Responding to the allegations by Yadav, Chief Minister Adityanath said that during the four governments led by the Samajwadi Party, barring those who have benefitted from them, no one else finds the party as right. Appreciating the present health system, Yogi alleged that the health and education sectors suffered the most during the times of these so-called “socialists” who ruled the state for four terms.

Deaths continued due to encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh but the people of the SP never went to express their condolences, the CM said, adding that even during the Covid pandemic, the SP chief was nowhere to be seen and only did the work of spreading confusion. Adityanath requested the Leader of Opposition to speak the truth and went on to add that the SP and truth are two banks of a river and will never come together.

He claimed that the state government has no dearth of budget and that it considers 25 crore people of the state as its family, and said if the Leader of Opposition cannot cooperate in the good works of the BJP government, then he should also not raise any obstruction.