Critics Want Me to Lose But I Will Stay Strong: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: A series of rapes and killings are forging a reputation of "a failed state" for Uttar Pradesh but its chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has said, "Critics are making me more strong and they think I'm going to lose. No, I'm going to be strong and I will work more hard. In a good way I will improve."

The 40-year-old's remarks were made to news agency AFP as Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced he was "closely monitoring" the "prevailing law and order situation" after another gang-rape and the fatal shooting of two policemen were reported in the troubled state. (Protests After UP Cops Shot On Duty; Home Minister Concerned)

"Because UP is a big state, politically, it is a very strong state and critics don't want to see a young chief minister here, they think 'let's damage him'," Mr Yadav said at his residence in Lucknow.

Since he became India's youngest chief minister two years ago, Mr Yadav has struggled to shake off the impression that he is merely doing the bidding of his powerful father Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is chief of the Samajwadi Party.  (Opinion: Mulayam, Akhilesh And UP's Descent Into Chaos)

In the campaign for the recent national election, the senior Yadav triggered outrage with comments about rape in which he said that "boys will be boys". The chief minister says he is in favour of capital punishment for rapists. "The society that respects its women, only that society progresses," he said. (Maintain Clean Image: Akhilesh Yadav to Samajwadi Party's Office-Bearers)

The state's police have frequently been accused of failing to properly investigate accusations of rape, covering up for perpetrators who have family or caste connections.

The lynching of two girls in Badaun a fortnight ago gained international attention after villagers prevented police from taking the dangling bodies down from a mango tree until the local media had captured them on film.

AL Banerjee, Uttar Pradesh's top police officer, acknowledged there had been some "bad handling" of cases but said claims of apathy among his force were wide of the mark.

Uttar Pradesh is widely seen as a victim of neglect. Privately, police say crime rates are unlikely to improve unless underlying causes such as high youth unemployment are tackled.

Mohammad Tauheed Siddiqui, founder of a charity for disaffected youngsters known as the Youth Club Welfare Foundation, said there was a general lack of resources.

"Not enough funds for schools, not enough funds to provide electricity to schools, no teachers, nothing," he said.

Even major cities such as Varanasi suffer from the lack of proper roads, sanitation and high levels of unemployment. In rural areas, power cuts lasting 12 hours a day are commonplace.

Some 40.9 per cent of the state's population lives below the poverty line, according to India's Planning Commission, while 42.4 per cent of its children are underweight, according to the UNDP.

Some analysts say the state's size - its population is bigger than Brazil's - makes it impossible to administer.

RK Singh, the former top civil servant in the union home ministry and now a law-maker for the BJP, said the failures were so deep-seated the state should be brought under direct rule as an emergency measure.

"There is no law and order. Rape and murder are very common. There is no control," he told reporters earlier this month.

"The state has completely failed. It is a fit case for the president's rule."