Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, while targeting the Ganga Vilas cruise, asked the government to explain how the Nishad community, which plies boats, would benefit from the Ganga cruise.
He also termed the forthcoming Global Investors’ Summit (GIS) proposed in February, an election stunt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the world’s longest river cruise MV Ganga Vilas from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in Assam. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had reviewed the preparation for the launch of the cruise on Thursday.
“A large number of people visit Varanasi to spend the later years of their lives there; many visit Kashi for spiritualism, for learning to perform religious rituals and other religious ceremonies. But the Bharatiya Janata Party is promoting tourism in Varanasi to make money. Big businessmen or entrepreneurs coming from outside will get facilities to run businesses in Varanasi while the locals will be neglected,” Yadav said.
He claimed that the BJP government had dumped the boat service project proposed in Lucknow's Gomti river. “Why did the BJP government dump the Samajwadi Party government’s project?” Yadav asked.
“The SP government had set an example before the country by launching the Gomti Riverfront project for cleaning and beautification of the rivers. Prior to this, there was no arrangement for treatment of sewage flowing directly into the rivers. What does the BJP government want to show to the people by stopping the development projects?” he asked.
“The Global Investors’ Summit is an election stunt. The projects being launched by the local entrepreneurs on their own initiative are also being included in the summit. The government must come out with a status paper on how much employment will be generated through the investments in various sectors. The BJP government is projecting UP as a shining state but the fact is that no project will be launched on ground after the summit,” the SP chief claimed.