Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday, 13 July 2026 sharply attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party government over waterlogging in Gorakhpur, mocking the city's Smart City Mission status as streets reportedly submerged during monsoon rains. The SP chief posted a video on X with a pointed Hindi couplet that drew an immediate contrast between the city's official branding and its ground reality.

Context

In his post, Akhilesh Yadav wrote: 'ये गोरखपुर है: मुख्यनगरी, स्मार्ट सिटी। जब तक भाजपा का राज — छोड़ो कार, रखो नाव तैयार' — roughly translated as: 'This is Gorakhpur: the principal city, the Smart City. As long as BJP rules — ditch the car, keep a boat ready.' The rhyming couplet, accompanied by a video, was designed to illustrate what the opposition describes as the gap between the city's designated status and its actual civic infrastructure during the monsoon season.

Gorakhpur is the home turf of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who represented the city in Parliament for nearly two decades before becoming CM in 2017. The city's selection under the Smart Cities Mission — a central government programme launched in June 2015 to upgrade 100 cities with technology-driven infrastructure — makes it a particularly pointed target for opposition criticism when basic services appear to falter.

Policy Backdrop

The Smart Cities Mission was conceived to transform selected urban centres through improvements in drainage, roads, digital connectivity and public services. Gorakhpur's inclusion on the list raised expectations among residents and urban planners about flood-resilient infrastructure. Seasonal waterlogging, however, has remained a recurring complaint in several Smart City-designated towns across Uttar Pradesh and the wider country.

The BJP has governed Uttar Pradesh since the 2017 assembly elections, when it ended Akhilesh Yadav's tenure as Chief Minister. Since then, the two parties have traded accusations over urban development delivery, flood management and the utilisation of central scheme funds in eastern UP districts. Opposition parties, including the Samajwadi Party, have consistently used visible infrastructure failures — particularly during the monsoon — to question the administration's track record on Smart City promises.

Stakeholders and Impact

Residents and daily commuters of Gorakhpur are the most directly affected when monsoon waterlogging disrupts mobility. For a city that carries both the symbolic weight of being the CM's home district and the formal designation of a Smart City, images or videos of flooded streets carry outsized political resonance. Urban local bodies, the state government, and the Smart Cities Mission authority at the centre all share accountability for drainage and infrastructure outcomes.

The post is also significant for Akhilesh Yadav's broader political messaging ahead of any future electoral cycle in Uttar Pradesh. The SP has sought to position itself as the party that held the state together on development metrics, while framing the current administration's record as one of unfulfilled urban promises. A viral video from the CM's own city serves that narrative directly.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the Uttar Pradesh government's official response to the waterlogging reports and any monsoon-preparedness review it may announce for Gorakhpur. Parliamentary questions on Smart Cities Mission fund utilisation in eastern UP districts are likely to follow if the images gain wider traction. The episode is part of a broader pattern in which Indian opposition leaders use seasonal infrastructure failures to demand accountability on centrally-sponsored urban schemes — a cycle that tends to intensify each monsoon and shapes voter perception heading into the next assembly contest.