Lucknow: In an embarrassing situation for the Gujarat government, about 12000 school bags with image of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and a tagline of ‘Khoob Padhao, Khoob badhao’, were distributed in state government schools.
The incident was reported from tribal village Sankheda where an enrolment drive ‘Shala Pravesh Utsav’ was going on. The bags distributed by Zila Panchayat officials of Chotta Udepur carried a sticker with a logo of panchayat.
However, when peeled off, one could see image of Akhilesh Yadav.
Commenting on the incident, Samajwadi Party MLC and Akhilesh Yadav’s close aide, Sunil Singh Sajan said, “This is a matter of shame for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his government and also for Gujarat government. How can schools bags with Akhilesh Yadav’s image be distributed in Gujarat? It can only be done by stealing the school bags meant for UP schools. Adityanath is a blot in the name of a saint. The UP government should clarify how these bags reached Gujarat.”
According to media reports, local officials have claimed that the bags were supplied by a firm in Surat. A senior official in education department of Gujarat said, “The Surat firm may have been supplying similar bags to UP government earlier and picture of Akhilesh Yadav was found printed mistakenly only on five per cent of the bags that were supplied. However, we have started a probe.”
The Samajwadi government, when in power last year, had sanctioned about 1.8 crore school bags for students, but the process was stopped midway after the announcement of Assembly elections.
Interestingly, when Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister, he allowed distribution of school bags with Akhilesh Yadav’s image as he was against wasting public money. Also, he wanted the bags to reach the students on time for the new session, which began in April.
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