Akhilesh Yadav slams BJP over JPNIC, says party's ‘stagnant thinking’ opposes modernity and progress

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 3 (ANI): Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday hit out at the BJP over the Jayaprakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC), alleging that the ruling party's "stagnant thinking" is opposed to modernity and progress.
Yadav made the remarks in a social media post while sharing a video showing the JPNIC, which was opened after nine years.
"The stagnant thinking of BJP supporters only gathers moss or rusts away with mildew. On one hand, the underground black history of those treacherous fellow-travellers who informed on the martyrs of the freedom movement to the colonialists has always stood opposed to the 'freedom fighters'; and on the other hand, the reactionary narrow-mindedness of the obscurantist BJP folks stands opposed to 'modernity and progress'," Yadav said.
He further accused the BJP and its ideological supporters of failing to respect the aspirations of present and future generations.
"Neither the generations of history nor those of the future will forgive the BJP and their fellow-travellers, and they remain the sinners against the generations of the present. End the BJP!" the SP chief said.
Yadav's remarks came days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused the Samajwadi Party of corruption in connection with the JPNIC project, reviving the political dispute ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
Addressing a gathering in Lucknow on August 30, Adityanath alleged that the SP had attempted to treat the JPNIC as its "private company" before the facility was handed over to the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).
The Chief Minister claimed that the project, sanctioned at a cost of Rs 200 crore, eventually saw expenditure of Rs 864 crore but remained incomplete. He also alleged that an SP-linked committee, which included Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Rajendra Chaudhary, had sought control over the centre.
Adityanath said the committee was dissolved and the matter handed over to the LDA, while asserting the state government's "zero-tolerance" policy towards corruption.
Earlier in July, Yadav had criticised the decision to place JPNIC under the LDA, calling it an insult to the legacy of socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan. (ANI)