Don’t try to incite passions over CAA, Yogi warns followers of ‘abba jaan’

He targeted AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who recently demanded withdrawal of the CAA, which last year led to widespread protests in several parts of the country

KANPUR Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday again used the terms “abba jaan-chacha jaan” as a jibe, threatening strict action against those who incite passion over the Citizenship Amendment act.

Adityanath said there used to be riots every “third or fourth day” in Uttar Pradesh earlier, but now UP is known as a riot-free state (File Photo)

He targeted AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who recently demanded withdrawal of the act, which last year led to widespread protests in several parts of the country. Adityanath called the Hyderabad-based leader, whose party is contesting the coming UP Assembly elections, an agent of the Samajwadi Party.

While addressing a meeting in Barabanki on Sunday, Owaisi had demanded that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be withdrawn as well after the announcement on the repeal of the agri laws.

The CAA is aimed at providing Indian citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered the country on or before 31 December 2014.

In September, the chief minister had sparked a row by using the Urdu term for ‘father’, saying that rations distributed by the previous state government went to those who say “abba jaan”.

In Kanpur on Tuesday, Adityanath said there used to be riots every “third or fourth day” in Uttar Pradesh earlier, but now UP is known as a riot-free state.

“I want to warn those people trying to incite feelings in the name of CAA. I am asking followers of ‘chacha jaan’ (uncle) and ‘abba jaan’ to listen carefully that if attempts are made to vitiate the atmosphere of the state by inciting feelings, the state government will deal with it strictly,” said the chief minister while addressing a convention of polling booth-level BJP leaders here, also attended by party president JP Nadda.

“Everyone knows that Owaisi is working as an agent of the Samajwadi Party that wants to incite passions in the state,” he said, adding: “Our government doesn’t protect rioters but runs bulldozers on their chest.”

Reacting to Yogi’s statements, Asaduddin Owaisi, in a tweet in Hindi, said: “Those who were mowed down were not rioters or mafia. They were farmers of Lakhimpur Kheri. And the father (of the main accused) is still a minister. ‘Thok dengey waley Baba, I am the agent of those who got India freedom and those who kept citizenship of Indians away from religion.”

Emphasising the government works for development and does not patronise mafias, Yogi Adityanath stated that Kanpur region’s social fabric was damaged and development affected due to the politics of family (‘pariwarwad’) and caste (‘jatiwad’) since Independence.

Deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya said the Samajwadi Party had become “Jinnahwadi Party” and that is why SP president Akhilesh Yadav was renamed as “Akhilesh Ali Jinnah”. “The BJP worked for all, whereas the SP and the BSP worked for a select few, primarily criminals,” he added. Inputs from agency