By PTI
LUCKNOW: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday asked people to remember that freeing terrorists involved in attacking Sri Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya were among the first acts of the Samajwadi Party government in 2012.
Adityanath made the allegations while addressing a rally in Budaun, one of the strongholds of the Samajwadi Party.
“Try to remember what was the first thing done by the Samajwadi Party when it came to power in 2012. First, riots took place in Kosikalan, then in Bareilly and then in Muzaffarnagar and Lucknow and Kanpur. There was no district in the state where riots did not take place. After coming to power, the SP did nothing for the poor, women, youth and farmers but withdrew cases against the terrorists who had attacked Shri Ram Janmabhoomi,” said the chief minister.
“The previous government used to withdraw cases against terrorists and rioters and invite them to the CM’s residence to honour them. But our government sent terrorists to their ‘Lok’ (world). There is no leniency with terrorists nor any compromise with rioters,” he said.
Before 2017, the law and order situation in UP was bad, festivals were never allowed to be held peacefully and anarchy was at its peak, the chief minister said, adding the women and girls did not feel safe in the state.
He said that no one was willing to invest either here as they knew investing here was not safe. “In the last four-and-half years, all festivals have been held peacefully. Before 2017, there was no COVID-19 pandemic but owing to curfew during festivals, there was an attack on our faith,” he said.
“If someone raised a voice against rioters, they were framed in false cases and harassed. After 2017, however, there have been no riots in the state,” he added.
Adityanath also said owing to a zero-tolerance policy of his government against crime and criminals, UP has become an example in the country on how to act against criminals enjoying the patronage of those in power. “Properties of the mafia dons worth Rs 1,800 crore have been seized and properties worth almost the same amount which could not be seized, were razed to the ground by bulldozers,” he said.
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Terming Ayodhya as “our identity”, the chief minister said once people hesitated in visiting Ayodhya and doubted the very existence of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna besides questioning the need of having a Ram temple there.
“But you have seen how the UP government organised the Deepawali Utsav in Ayodhya that the entire world saw. We attracted the country and the world towards Deepawali in Ayodhya by making the festival an event,” the chief minister pointed out.
Accusing the previous SP government of indulging in corruption and undermining the identity of the people of the state, Adityanath asserted, “Their agenda was confined to them and their families. And that is why each of their work reflected their ego. But in the last four-and-half years, you have seen a new UP and a changing image of UP.”
Accusing the opposition parties of isolating themselves from people during the pandemic, Adityanath said, “At the time of COVID-19, the Union and state governments and BJP public representatives ventured out to serve people but nothing was known about opposition leaders. All of them were in home isolation and self-quarantine. When these people did not reach out to you at the time of crisis, they should be asked to keep aloof in elections as well. They were on Twitter during the pandemic and they will be given replies on Twitter itself.”
He said that Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the number one state in many schemes of the Centre and sought to know why the welfare schemes were not implemented before 2017. “For previous governments, their own dynasty was the state. The 24-25 crore people of the state never meant anything to them. They were only interested in their own families earning money, buying property abroad and securing their families by purchasing an island,” Adityanath said.
“Keeping the state safe was not their agenda. They embraced criminal and mafia elements, let the law and order situation worsen. They had no agenda of development either. But for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and me, 130 crore people of the country, including 25 crore of UP are our family,” he said.
