Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday (August 29, 2026) described the Samajwadi Party as a "gang of dacoits" and said its president Akhilesh Yadav should apologise to the people for the "loot" of the state exchequer when it was in power.

Speaking at a ceremony where he laid foundation stones of 80 development projects worth more than ₹305 crore in Deoria, the Chief Minister said Uttar Pradesh had shed its earlier image of a state plagued by poor governance and insecurity.

"SP means loot and extortion, SP means a gang of dacoits," Mr. Adityanath said.

"For the loot of the state exchequer that the SP chief committed for his indulgence, he should apologise to the people," he said, referring to alleged corruption in the construction of the Jayaprakash Narayan International Centre (JPNIC) in Lucknow.

Earlier, a "parallel government of mafias used to run in the State. Today, Uttar Pradesh has become what its name suggests and nobody calls it a 'BIMARU' State”, the CM said.

The acronym 'BIMARU' was coined by demographer Ashish Bose in the mid-1980s, referring to names of some of the country's then poorest states — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

"Now Uttar Pradesh has a good image. Mafias have been reduced to dust. Those who breach the security of daughters and traders have only two places to go — they are either in jail or in hell," Mr. Adityanath said.

Underlining the importance of electing good public representatives, he said, "When good public representatives are elected, good governments come and the results are also good. This development, prosperity and employment are the result of the hard work of the public representatives whom you elected."

"Before 2017, there was neither development nor security nor respect in Uttar Pradesh. There was no employment, nor houses, toilets, LPG connections, electricity and roads for the poor. Schools had become centres of cheating," he said.

On encephalitis, the Chief Minister said the period from July 15 to November 15 used to bring fear to Deoria, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Kushinagar, Sant Kabir Nagar and Basti.

"This was not a disease; it was the sick mentality of the SP-Congress governments. In 40 years, 50,000 innocent children died, but no Chief Minister or Prime Minister from the SP or the Congress came to take stock of the situation," Mr. Adityanath said.

Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Minister of State for Rural Development Vijay Lakshmi Gautam and MLAs Shalabh Mani Tripathi and Sabha Kunwar Kushwaha, among others, attended the programme.