Discrimination against minority communities "greatest mockery of democracy", says UP CM Yogi

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath (File image)

Even as the second phase of assembly elections began on Monday in Uttar Pradesh with 55 seats at stake, chief minister Yogi Adityanath in an interview with news agency ANI on Monday said he expected the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the ongoing polls in the state by gaining over 300 seats.

The 55 assembly constituencies are spread across the nine districts of Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha, Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Budaun, and Shahjahanpur.

 “Under the PM’s leadership and with people’s blessings, the double-engine government will return to power in UP. This election has already moved towards 80 vs 20. A gloomy environment prevails in SP (Samajwadi Party), BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party), and Congress camps after the first phase of polls. BJP is achieving its 300-mark target,” Adityanath said.

According to Adityanath, the 80-20 split represents the 80 percent who support progress and 20 percent opposition who have a negative attitude towards everything.

Explaining the “double-engine growth” and its role in vaccinating the people of the state against COVID-19, the CM said that “wherever I go, I ask people, ‘Did you take the vaccine?’ People raise their hands and say yes. They express gratitude to the prime minister and say that lives have been saved because of him.”

“Those who opposed and derided vaccines, people have countered them by taking vaccines and have expressed their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I can say that 15 crore people in UP, the double-engine government is giving double dose ration to the people,” he added.

He also clarified his stance on the ongoing Karnataka hijab row, saying, “We cannot impose our personal beliefs, our fundamental rights, our personal likes and dislikes on the country or institutions. Am I asking the people and workers in UP to wear saffron? What they want to wear is their choice. But in schools, there should be a dress code. This is the matter of schools and the discipline in schools,” he said.

He added that in the new India, where there is “development is for all and there will be appeasement of none”, everything will happen according to the Constitution and not Shariyat law (referring to the Islamic legal system).

“I can say with utter clarity that this is the India of the world's most popular leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In this new India, the government works with the motto of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas. The dream of Ghazwa-e-Hind will not be fulfilled even till the Qayamat (judgment day),” he said.

Notably, Ghazva-e-Hind refers to a prophecy that a battle in the Indian subcontinent will be won by Muslims.

He also addressed criticism over his comments of Uttar Pradesh becoming like Kerala and West Bengal if his party was not voted back to power. “These people are coming from Bengal and spreading anarchy here. For this, it was necessary to alert people against it... I want to ask, are elections held this peacefully in Bengal? Recently, Bengal held Vidhan Sabha elections and BJP workers were tortured. Booths were captured. Anarchy was at its peak. Several people were killed. Similar was the case in Kerala. The violence, and political killings that have happened in these two states, where else has it happened?”

Asked whether minorities are safe in the state, Adityanath said the primary aim of his government was to provide security and prosperity to all, and that discriminatory incidents against minorities were the “greatest mockery of democracy”.

“In five years, did any riot take place? In five years, were obstacles placed in celebrating festivals? If festivals of the Hindus were celebrated with peace, Muslims also celebrated festivals in a peaceful manner. When Hindus are peaceful, they (Muslims) are also peaceful. Hindus are safe so Muslims are also safe. We give security to all, prosperity to all, respect to all but no appeasement to any,” he said.

“In a democracy, if any government disrespects the views of the public sentiments, distributes government schemes by looking at their faces, discriminates on caste, creed, and religion—there can be no greater mockery of democracy than this,” he said.

Commenting on the alleged misuse of central agencies during elections, he said such raids are a continuous process.

“Isn’t it true that this money of the poor, meant for development, was going to his ‘ittar-wale mitra’? Now when ED has found out that his money was going to his ‘ittar-wale mitra’ and today when investigating agencies have made fool-proof arrangements that ‘ittar-wale mitra’ were eating away the resources like termite when poor were dying of hunger and farmers were committing suicide”.

“His friends in the perfume trade, after earning lump-sum amounts, were settling the income earned in the UP, abroad. What is the work of the agencies? It is the agency’s task to submit ill-gotten wealth to the state treasury and investigate it. It not only happened during the elections. It has been continuously happening and is a long task”, he continued
Adityanath also took pot-shots at political rivals. About Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that “to drown Congress, no one else is needed”.

On the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, said, “There is a case against Akhilesh Ji of disproportionate assets. Did this happen during the BJP government? In 2013, BJP was not in power at the Centre or state. There are more cases against him. Was this because of the BJP?”