Akhilesh Yadav calls on SP workers to gear up for 2027 polls, cautions against BJP’s ‘conspiracies’
Lucknow (PTI): Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday asked party workers to start preparing for the 2027 Assembly elections and remain alert to the “conspiracies” of the BJP.
Addressing party functionaries from Agra, Mathura and Hathras at the SP state headquarters here, Yadav alleged that the BJP is working on a "strategy to manipulate” elections.
“The BJP is planning to rig elections and destroy the sanctity of democratic institutions. The people of UP have already made up their mind to form a Samajwadi government in 2027, but each worker has to remain active, vigilant and cautious,” Yadav, according to the party statement, said.
He said that the goal of the Samajwadi Party is to establish the rule of social justice.
"Caste census will enable all sections of society to get rights and respect on the basis of their numbers. PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyaks or backwards, Dalits and minorities) panchayats have awakened society and people have also realised its power. The BJP is scared of the power of PDA. It has started fearing defeat in the elections," he said.
Yadav stressed the need for vigilance regarding electoral rolls.
“Special attention must be given to ensure there is no tampering with the voters’ list. We must ensure that our people’s names are not deleted. The BJP tries to capture power by manipulating voter rolls and committing fraud in elections,” he alleged.
He also targeted the ruling party on law and order, inflation, unemployment and women’s safety.
“Crime is uncontrolled, women and children are unsafe, youths are jobless, education and health services have collapsed, and inflation is not coming down. The BJP government has failed on all fronts,” he said.
The SP chief claimed several development projects were launched for Agra, Mathura and Hathras during his government, but those initiatives had been “ruined” under the present BJP rule.
“The Samajwadi Party will come out with separate manifestos for these three districts in 2027 with fresh development promises,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of Agra and Mathura, Yadav said, “Agra is an international city and has global importance in tourism, while Mathura is known worldwide as the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The BJP is only misleading the people of Mathura by misusing power, while real development was carried out only under the SP government.”
Yadav exhorted party workers to stay connected with the masses and highlight the SP’s work and schemes such as the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, metro projects, pension schemes, laptop distribution and ambulance services.
“Workers must work unitedly at the booth level. People are desperate to get rid of the BJP. Only when the SP comes to power will students, youths, traders, and farmers prosper, and sisters and daughters feel safe,” he said.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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