A student once mistook me for Rahul Gandhi in UP school: Akhilesh Yadav
Lucknow, May 30: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday deplored the quality of education in Uttar Pradesh and recounted the day he was mistaken for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a child a school when he was the state chief minister.
Yadav was addressing the state assembly during a discussion on the state budget.
In his address, he attacked the BJP saying that instead of "ease of doing business", there was an "ease of doing crime" in the state.
"UP on education index is fourth from the bottom. This is the level of education in the state which gave so many prime ministers, he said, adding that even Narendra Modi was PM because of the state.
"I had once gone to a primary school where a child did not recognise me. When I asked who I was, the child said Rahul Gandhi'," Yadav said.
Akhilesh was the CM of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017.
When the members in the treasury benches laughed at this, Yadav said, "They are not sad about the level of education in the state, but because I took the name of the Congress leader."
Putting the state government in the dock over law and order, Yadav said, "There is no ease of doing business in the state, but an ease of doing crime. BJP men are taking law in their hands."
"This budget is all smoke and mirrors. BJP has a new policy in operation -- 'one nation, one capitalist'," he said, apparently accusing the party ruling the state of favouring big businesses.
Finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna had presented the annual budget for 2022-23 in the house on May 26.
Akhilesh said that the state government is claiming this to be the biggest budget, but every year the budget size becomes bigger than the previous one. Still no heed is paid to farmers, unemployed, women and cattle in the budget.
He said the BJP had promised to double the income of farmers by 2022 but the turnaround is yet to be seen.
Akhilesh also took a dig at the ruling party members, saying sometimes they try to teach him "samajwad" (socialism).
He said Adityanath knows about socialism and has got a book too written for him. Yadav was referring to the biography of the chief minister written by a senior journalist in 2017.
"If I am socialist, what's wrong with it? You are also a socialist. The money which is being distributed to farmers is also done on a socialist principle. Whatever you are giving to the girls is also based on the same principle," he said.
"If you raise a question mark on my being socialist then you are also not democratic. You don't trust democracy, and if you are not 'samajwadi', you also cannot be secular," he said.
The leader of opposition said this in an apparent counter to a remark made by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last week.
Adityanath had then alleged that the former CM had been dumping socialism which is still being held by Shivpal Yadav - his estranged uncle.
Attacking the government, Akhilesh said due its wrong policies, the condition of the housing sector was in a bad shape.
"The number of cows is also decreasing," he said, adding the SP government did maximum work in the field of dairy sector.
He said that the identity of Kannauj was due to its "ittra" (perfume), which has now been replaced by gobar (cow dung).
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
