'A child once mistook me as Rahul Gandhi': Akhilesh Yadav recalls old incident when he was UP CM

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that the condition of education in Uttar Pradesh is deplorable by recalling the time when he was mistaken as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a child, who was enrolled in a state-sponsored school. The incident dates back to the time when Yadav himself was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, PTI reported.  "I had once gone to a primary school where a child did not recognise me. When I asked who I was, the child said Rahul Gandhi'," Yadav said. "UP on education index is fourth from the bottom. This is the level of education in the state which gave so many prime ministers, he said, adding that even Narendra Modi was PM because of the state.

Yadav was addressing the state assembly during a discussion on the state budget.

When the members in the treasury benches laughed at this, Yadav said, "They are not sad about the level of education in the state, but because I took the name of the Congress leader."

In his address, the former UP CM also attacked the BJP saying that instead of "ease of doing business", there was an "ease of doing crime" in the state.

Putting the state government in the dock over law and order, Yadav said, "There is no ease of doing business in the state, but ease of doing crime. BJP men are taking law in their hands."

"This budget is all smoke and mirrors. BJP has a new policy in operation -- 'one nation, one capitalist'," he said, apparently accusing the party ruling the state of favouring big businesses.

Finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the annual budget for 2022-23 in the house on May 26.

Akhilesh said that the state government is claiming this to be the biggest budget, but every year the budget size becomes bigger than the previous one. ?Still no heed is paid to farmers, unemployed, women and cattle in the budget.?

He said the BJP had promised to double the income of farmers by 2022 but the turnaround is yet to be seen.

Akhilesh also took a dig at the ruling party members, saying sometimes they try to teach him "samajwad" (socialism).

He said Adityanath knows about socialism and has got a book to written for him. Yadav was referring to the biography of the chief minister written by a senior journalist in 2017.

(With PTI inputs)