LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday accused the previous Samajwadi Party government of discriminating against students from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and stopping their scholarships due to political vendetta.
In his address after virtually transferring scholarships worth Rs 458.66 crore to meritorious students, the chief minister alleged that the earlier government had stopped scholarships to SC/ST students in 2016-17 and that he was shocked to realise this after he assumed power in March 2017.
"The lives of children were played with due to political vendetta and rivalry. It was a conspiracy by them (SP government) to obstruct public welfare schemes," Adityanath said, adding his government transferred the scholarship amount to the bank accounts of those students soon after.
"Previous governments in the state used to decide on scholarships keeping in mind their political gains and losses. But the BJP government has been giving all students equal opportunities and an environment to grow," he said.
Adityanath said his government has been imparting free coaching not only to students from SC/ST and minority communities but also to those from general the category under 'Abhyudaya Yojana'. He directed the Social Welfare Department to extend this scheme, currently being run in 18 districts, to all 75 districts.