Anil Rajbhar: SP leaders lack courage to face public, voters will reject them
Synopsis
UP Minister Anil Rajbhar accused SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of lacking the courage to face voters, calling his party anti-development, anti-farmer, and anti-women. The attack came after Yadav mocked BJP's Varanasi development promises with a viral waterlogging video, turning a local civic failure into a full-blown political flashpoint.
Key Takeaways
UP Minister Anil Rajbhar on 4 November accused SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of avoiding the public due to fear of voter rejection.
Rajbhar branded the Samajwadi Party as 'anti-development, anti-farmer, anti-youth, anti-student and anti-women.' Akhilesh Yadav had triggered the response by sharing a waterlogging video from Varanasi and mocking the BJP's Kyoto development promise.
CM Yogi Adityanath had earlier accused the SP of being associated with land-grabbing and lawlessness.
The escalating war of words signals heightened political tensions between BJP and SP ahead of future polls in Uttar Pradesh .
Uttar Pradesh Minister Anil Rajbhar on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, launched a sharp attack on Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, accusing the opposition of avoiding the public and indulging in political theatrics rather than confronting their own record. The broadside came in direct response to Yadav's criticism of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's development narrative.
Rajbhar's Charge Against SP
Speaking to reporters, Rajbhar said SP leaders were fully aware of public dissatisfaction with their politics, which is why they chose to stay away from voters. 'They do not have the courage to face the public. They know this very well and are simply making excuses and engaging in political theatrics,' he said.
He went further, branding the Samajwadi Party as anti-development and hostile to the interests of farmers, youth, students, and women. 'The Samajwadi Party and its leaders are anti-development, anti-farmer, anti-youth, anti-student and anti-women. They lack the courage to face the people because they know that if they go among the public, voters will reject them decisively,' Rajbhar added.
Akhilesh's Varanasi Jab That Triggered the Response
Rajbhar's remarks were a direct rebuttal to Akhilesh Yadav's recent social media post targeting the BJP over waterlogging in Varanasi — Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency. Yadav shared a video of a waterlogged road in the city, questioning the government's claims of world-class urban development.
In his post on X, the SP chief wrote: 'This is the spectacle of the BJP's world-class development claims in the prime city of Varanasi dissolving into water out of sheer shame.' He added a pointed reference to a long-standing BJP promise: 'Couldn't turn it into Kyoto, so they just put up a photo of Kyoto instead' — a swipe at earlier pledges to redevelop Varanasi along the lines of the Japanese city of Kyoto.
CM Yogi Had Also Escalated Attacks
The political skirmish is not limited to Rajbhar. Earlier on Sunday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had also gone on the offensive against Yadav, alleging that SP's politics was rooted in land-grabbing and lawlessness. Contrasting his government's record with the opposition's, Yogi asserted that the BJP stood for development, investment, and progress, while accusing the SP of pursuing divisive politics.
The Broader Political Context
This exchange reflects the intensifying war of words between the ruling BJP and the SP ahead of future electoral contests in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has consistently sought to frame the SP as a party of disorder and stagnation, while Yadav has worked to position himself as a check on what he describes as governance failures. Notably, Varanasi's development trajectory has been a recurring flashpoint, given its symbolic weight as the PM's own constituency. With both sides now sharpening attacks through public statements and social media, the rhetorical temperature in UP politics is rising sharply.
Point of View
It demands more than a counter-attack on SP's record. Rajbhar's broadside is tactically familiar — pivot to 'anti-development' labelling — but it doesn't address the footage. Yadav's Kyoto jibe is sharper than it looks; it ties a broken promise to a visible, shareable image. For the BJP in UP, the real challenge is that development optics in Varanasi carry disproportionate national weight, and no amount of SP-bashing neutralises a viral video of a flooded road in the PM's backyard.
NationPress
4 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Anil Rajbhar say about Akhilesh Yadav?
UP Minister Anil Rajbhar said SP leaders lack the courage to face the public because they know voters will reject them decisively. He also accused the Samajwadi Party of being anti-development, anti-farmer, anti-youth, anti-student, and anti-women.
Why did Akhilesh Yadav target BJP over Varanasi?
Akhilesh Yadav shared a video of waterlogging on a road in Varanasi — PM Modi's parliamentary constituency — to mock the BJP's claims of world-class development. He also referenced the unfulfilled promise to redevelop Varanasi along the lines of the Japanese city of Kyoto.
What did CM Yogi Adityanath say about the SP?
CM Yogi Adityanath, speaking earlier on Sunday, alleged that SP's politics was rooted in land-grabbing and lawlessness. He contrasted his government's development and investment record against what he described as the SP's divisive and anti-development politics.
What is the significance of the Kyoto reference in Akhilesh Yadav's post?
The reference targets a promise made by BJP to transform Varanasi into a city resembling Kyoto, Japan, in terms of urban development and heritage tourism. Yadav's post suggests the promise was never fulfilled and that photo-ops replaced actual development.
How does this fit into the larger UP political picture?
The exchange is part of an intensifying BJP-SP rivalry in Uttar Pradesh, where both parties are sharpening their attack lines ahead of future elections. The BJP is focused on positioning SP as a party of disorder, while Yadav is using governance failures — particularly in high-profile locations like Varanasi — to challenge the BJP's development narrative.
