Akhilesh Yadav uses "Be-Bus Behnein" wordplay to attack UP govt over bus shortage
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday claimed that not even Ravana deceived his sisters the way the BJP has, taking aim at the Uttar Pradesh government for going back on its promise of free bus travel for women on Raksha Bandhan.
The SP president posted a video on X showing a bus depot in Prayagraj covered in mud, with people shown struggling to locate buses on the occasion.
He alleged that women from across the state had raised complaints on Friday over buses being unavailable, seats running short, and buses skipping their designated stops.
Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh government had announced that women, along with one accompanying person, would be allowed to travel free on all Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation buses, from midnight on August 27 through midnight on Friday, to help them travel for Raksha Bandhan.
It had also instructed the transport department, police and local authorities to ensure women faced no trouble travelling safely.
"Even Ravana did not deceive his sisters the way they (BJP) have. The unrighteous BJP and its 'sangi-saathi' (associates -- a veiled reference to RSS) have turned out to be bigger liars than Dashanan, because they speak 10 times more lies with more than 10 mouths," he said.
"Ravana deceived only once by changing his disguise, whereas they (BJP) remain in the same disguise and keep deceiving and cheating people," Yadav added.
The former chief minister said, "The BJP may spread as much mud as it wants now, its lotus will not bloom. The BJP will go, and will never come back again."
Uttar Pradesh is set to hold Assembly elections next year.
The clip Yadav posted was made up of purported social media complaints filed by women from various parts of the state.
According to these complaints, buses were missing despite the free-travel announcement, seating was inadequate, and some buses reportedly avoided stopping at set locations, allegedly to dodge carrying women passengers without charge.
In an earlier X post on Friday, Yadav had gone after the government's free bus scheme directly, playing on words with the Hindi term "be-bas," meaning helpless, as a pun on "bus."
"Be-bus behnein (helpless sisters): After promising free buses on Raksha Bandhan, they removed the buses themselves!" Yadav said.
He added, "'Even if life is lost, a promise must not be broken' -- even those belonging to the Raghuvansh, who said this, were deceived by these BJP people. How can one expect them to keep their promises?" (with inputs from PTI)
