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New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath’s promise of delivering one lakh government jobs ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election has hit an unexpected PR embarrassment. And its source is none other than his own deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak, whose public suggestion that youth should drive taxis instead of chasing government jobs has landed the ruling administration in a soup.

Although Pathak made the remarks at an official event in Lucknow on September 23, they became a talking point in the state’s politics after the main opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) juxtaposed the starkly differing pitches offered by Adityanath and Pathak. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on September 28 even played a video clip at a press conference, highlighting side-by-side the contradictory statements made by the two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders regarding jobs and employment opportunities. Pathak, an influential MLA from Lucknow, serves as virtually the number-three most powerful figure in the state government. Incidentally, when he made those comments last week, Adityanath was also on the stage. 

With a little over four months left for the Assembly election, employment and unfulfilled youth aspirations are predictably emerging as central political battlegrounds across the state. Opposition parties have thrown their complete weight behind student and youth groups protesting against alleged recruitment anomalies, delayed result declarations in recruitment exams, or demanding pay hikes.

In response, the Adityanath-led state government has claimed that ever since coming to power in Uttar Pradesh in March 2017, it has successfully........

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