CM Yogi Adityanath: After BJP, gangsters and criminals left state, not Hindus

Uttar Pradesh (UP) chief minister Yogi Adityanath recently addressed a rally during the ‘Jan Vishwas Yatra’ in Mathura. There, he claimed that gangsters and criminals had left the state after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. Adityanath also pointed out that there had been no riots in the state during the four and a half years of BJP rule. 

As per ANI reports, the chief minister told the gathering, “Hindus were forced to leave the state during previous governments. After 2017, we provided them security, employment and everything they demanded. Now, they have come back to the state”. 

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Ahead of the UP elections, the BJP government launched six such yatras from different places in the state. All of them have party heavyweights attached like Rajnath Singh, the defence minister and party president JP Nadda, besides Adityanath himself. 

The chief minister was also conscious to draw a distinction, saying that there were riots when other parties were in power. According to him, this is because for parties like Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Samajwadi Party, only their family matters. Meanwhile, BJP considers the people of UP to be their family. 

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These yatras are a way for the party to seek the public’s blessings, and Adityanath has promised that the state government will continue working towards infrastructure development, farmers’ benefits, and women’s safety. The chief minister had previously asserted the need for women’s safety, while campaigning for the state polls, at which time he also called for the safety of bulls and buffaloes. 

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Ironically, a claim towards infrastructure development from the Adityanath-led UP government fell flat on its face in September 2021, when there was an advertisement taken out in the Indian Express, showing images which apparently reflected UP’s progress. The flyover shown was soon identified to be an image of a Kolkata flyover, in Mamata Banerjee’s TMC governed West Bengal. Another image of an industry site turned out to be taken from a company called HSE Vision.