Govt should learn from Trump, impose tariff restrictions on countries to save economy: Akhilesh

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said the Narendra Modi government should learn from US President Donald Trump and impose tariff restrictions on other countries to "save" India's economy.

Trump has slapped universal duties on all countries exporting goods to the US and additional steep levies on countries like India, potentially impacting sales of products from shrimp to steel in the world's biggest economy.

For India, he has announced a 26 per cent "discounted reciprocal tariff", half of the 52 per cent levies imposed by India on American goods.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav said, "The government should learn from the President of America. He (Trump) is imposing sanctions on other countries to save his country's economy."

"Taking lessons from this, should India also impose restrictions (tariff) on China to save its market and economy or not? We should learn from a country like America. We should also impose similar restrictions on other countries to save our economy," he said.

Terming the country's economic situation the "biggest challenge" today, the Samajwadi Party chief sought to know about the per capita income of those receiving free ration.

"Where does our economy stand? False figures about the economy are being presented," he alleged.

To a question on Waqf properties, he described the BJP as a "land mafia party" and accused it of trying to grab land in Gorakhpur and Ayodhya.

"The BJP is the biggest land mafia party... Get the (land) registries of four districts -- Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Kanpur and Lucknow -- probed. The BJP people have grabbed government land," Yadav claimed.

On the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, that has been passed by Parliament, he said, "This will prove to be the BJP's Waterloo." Yadav also claimed the BJP leaders were trying hard on social media to defame the Samajwadi Party and the PDA, a term coined by him to refer to "Piccdhe", or Backward Classes, Dalits, and "Alpsankhayak", or minorities.

Training guns at the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over the stampede at the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj in January, the Samajwadi Party chief said it could not "tell the count of Hindu devotees who died".

"The actual death toll is not being revealed because they (victims' families) will have to be compensated. The government should not play with the (death) count, he said.

The Uttar Pradesh government has confirmed the death of 30 people in the stampede.

Yadav attacked the state government over the issue of alleged corruption involving a senior official and sarcastically said that "it was not corruption, but division of power".

Though he did not take names, the former chief minister was apparently referring to IAS officer Abhishek Prakash who was recently suspended.

Prakash was the chief executive officer of Invest UP and charges of corruption were made against him in connection with clearing a solar project. Nikant Jain, a middleman allegedly involved in the case, has been arrested.

"This is the first time that such open collusion has been seen in a government. An officer cannot work alone, there is a whole system active behind him," Yadav claimed.

"Those who wanted to bring investment brought destruction... there are widespread rumours that all the corrupt are hiding in the chief minister's residence itself."

Referring to BJP leaders' "80-20" slogan during the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, which the opposition alleges has communal insinuations, Yadav said, "The BJP itself has accepted that their 80-20 slogan is not going to work." "I want to ask whether we come in 80 or 20? Now it is a matter of 90-10. Half the population (apparently referring to women) and PDA are now angry with the BJP.

"When these classes will come together, the BJP will be out of power. The public has now awakened and they cannot be misled with false promises," the Samajwadi Party chief said.

Targeting the state government over the "complete collapse" of law and order, Yadav referred to some recent incidents of crime and said the government which talked about zero tolerance towards crime, has now "become a zero".

"There is no law and order in the state. Justice is not being delivered... The BJP people are themselves angry with the party, they are also not getting justice. Such corruption has not been seen anywhere," he claimed.

Yadav announced that the Samajwadi Party will mark Bhimrao Ambedkar's birth anniversary by celebrating Swabhiman Swaman Samaroh across Uttar Pradesh from April 8.

Party workers will go door to door and highlight the shortcomings of the BJP government, he said.