Akhilesh Yadav says 'country doesn’t need bullet train, soldiers need bulletproof jackets'; asks why India's intelligence 'failing'

Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that the priority of the country's leadership should be to ensure that bulletproof jackets are provided to its soldiers, rather than focusing on bullet trains.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Yadav took a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s ambitious bullet train project and said, "Today the country does not require a bullet train, it is more important that our soldiers get bulletproof jackets.”Yadav’s comment comes in the wake of the heinous terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Thursday, in which as many as 42 jawans were killed.The Samajwadi Party leader also raised questions over intelligence agencies and called on the central government to formulate a long term strategy for securing the country's borders."Why is our Intelligence failing? You can't compensate for the loss of lives. The nation stands by its security forces and jawans. If all political parties have put their political events on hold, the ruling party should do the same and form a long term strategy to secure our borders," Yadav said.Earlier on Monday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking direction from the central government to constitute a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge along with Army, intelligence and local administration to conduct an inquiry in the Uri and Pulwama terror attacks.