In democracy, people hit back when hurt, says Akhilesh Yadav

Contending the Narendra Modi governments move to demonetise higher value currency notes has failed to address core issues of black money, corruption and counterfeiting, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said that in democracy, people hit back at the government when they are hurt.

While refusing to dwell on the rift within the Yadav family, he insisted the family feud did not hinder governance in Uttar Pradesh in any way.

"Contrary to the government claims, demonetisation has been far from addressing the three core issues of curbing black money, corruption and counterfeiting of notes. The only thing it has done is put the entire country queue up outside banks and ATMs," he said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

Citing availability of fake debit and credit cards in the market, Akhilesh Yadav ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious plan of having a cashless economy.

"The Prime Minister talks about cashless economy, but is that a possibility. And how far will that be feasible? Fake debit and credit cards widely available in the market and there are reports that even the newly-launched Rs 2,000 notes have been counterfeited," he said.

"A government should work for people's welfare by encouraging spending. But the BJP government has caused only sufferings on the common people. What kind of 'Ache Din' is this?" he asked, referring to Modi' election promise of ushering in good days.

"One must realise that in democracy, people vent their anger on the government when they are hurt," he said.

While parrying questions on his rift with uncle and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh's brother Shivpal Yadav, he insisted the family feud did not play a roadblock his government's development work.

"There can be differences between leaders but nothing came in the way of the government and its functioning," said Akhilesh Yadav asserting he focused like "Mahabharat's Arjun" on forming the government again in UP.

He also took a dig at party leader Amar Singh with whom he doesn't share cordial rleations.

"I am not the party state president, so the decision regarding whether he should stay on not in the party rests with Netaji (Mulayam Singh). However, if he remains in the party, I hope he works to take the party forward and not otherwise," he said and dubbed as a "big dream" of Singh's aspirations of becoming the Chief Minister.