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SP, Congress care more about infiltrators than for Dalits: Yogi Adityanath
CM inaugurates, lays foundation of 48 projects worth over ₹411 crore in Kanpur, invokes Maharishi Valmiki, Sant Ravidas and Dr BR Ambedkar
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Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the Samajwadi Party and the Congress of caring more about Bangladeshi infiltrators than about Dalits, the poor and the youth.
He was speaking at a public meeting on the occasion of Valmiki Jayanti in Bithoor, where the attack on the Opposition came alongside a clear pitch to Dalit and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities.
Without naming anyone, he said the country had two “miyans”— a “chhote miyan” and a “bade miyan”, who were united by their affection for infiltrators.
Invoking Maharishi Valmiki, Sant Ravidas and Dr BR Ambedkar, Adityanath presented his government as the custodian of their legacy. He also inaugurated and laid the foundation of 48 projects worth over ₹411 crore in Kanpur, and prayed at Maharishi Valmiki ashram.
Voters, he said, had seen the SP’s record in power and rejected it, and “the wooden pot cannot be put on the fire repeatedly.”
The chief minister accused it of putting family interests above public welfare and of wanting to drag the state back to disorder.
Citing the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and the 2016 Jawahar Bagh episode in Mathura, he alleged that criminals enjoyed political protection under the then SP government. He recalled the killing of police officers at Jawahar Bagh and asked how ordinary people could feel safe when the police themselves were not. Traders, farmers and residents, he claimed, lived in fear before the BJP came to power in 2017.
Adityanath also said the then SP government dropped the name Sant Ravidas Nagar for Bhadohi after taking office in 2012, and that the BJP regime restored it. He also alleged that the previous government removed Ambedkar’s name from a medical college in Kannauj and Kanshi Ram’s name from a university in Lucknow.
He credited the Modi government with promoting Ambedkar’s legacy and developing sites linked to him. He also pointed to Provincial Armed Constabulary battalions named after Dalit and backward-community icons: Uda Devi Pasi in Lucknow, Avanti Bai Lodhi in Badaun and Jhalkari Bai Kori in Gorakhpur.
He contrasted the BJP’s record with that of earlier governments, citing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi and Vindhyavasini Dham in Mirzapur district. He claimed that 20,000 people can now have darshan at Kashi Vishwanath at once, far more than before 2017. In Ayodhya, he cited the Ram temple complex, which includes shrines associated with Valmiki, Tulsidas, Shabari and Nishadraj, and a 56-foot statue at Shringverpur (in Prayagraj district) depicting Ram’s meeting with Nishadraj. He accused the SP and Congress of opposing the temple and obstructing Ayodhya’s development.
Recalling that Lord Ram had arrived in Ayodhya in the Pushpak Viman thousands of years ago, Yogi said that in independent India, the city was not even given electricity, and its roads were left broken by the Congress and SP governments. Those parties, he alleged, did not want the temple built.
“Today, Ayodhya is the epitome of development,” he said.
“Mandir ban gaya, international airport ban gaya (The temple has been built, an international airport has been constructed).”
On Bithoor, he spoke of works at Valmiki Ashram and Brahmavart Ghat and described the town as significant for its links to Valmiki, the Ramayana tradition and the childhood of Rani Lakshmibai. He said the state had declared a public holiday on Valmiki Jayanti and started continuous Ramayana recitations at temples. Recalling the tradition that Sita took refuge in the region and that Luv and Kush grew up there, he said, “Where women are respected, that land becomes a place of pilgrimage.”
Returning to the issue of illegal immigration, he alleged that illegal immigrants were taking away ration cards and other benefits meant for the poor. .
He further criticised the Opposition’s stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act, which offers a route to citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. He alleged that opposing it reflected hostility towards these communities.
The 48 projects launched in Kanpur include road-widening works, infrastructure at the Defence Corridor’s Kanpur node, two model composite schools, a botanical garden and a master-plan road under the New Kanpur City scheme.
He concluded his speech by urging people to preserve social harmony.
