E-Paper
Criminals found either in jail or SP’s list: Amit Shah
Amit Shah warned voters that if “mafia rule” returns in the state, people will hesitate to invest in the defence corridor in Aligarh, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
Criminals and members of the mafia are now found only in jail or away from Uttar Pradesh or in the list of candidates released by the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the upcoming state assembly elections, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday, touting the law and order record of the state’s BJP government and taking a swipe at the main opposition.
Shah was addressing a rally in support of state minister Sandeep Singh, former UP CM Kalyan Singh’s grandson, who is the BJP candidate from Atrauli in Aligarh district. Singh will contest againstVeeresh Yadavfrom the SP in Atrauli, which will go to the polls on February 10 in the first phase of elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. The late Kalyan Singh represented the seat between 1967 and 1980 and again from 1985 to 2007.
Shah also warned voters that if “mafia rule” returns in the state, people will hesitate to invest in the defence corridor in Aligarh, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
Also Read| SP releases new list, BJP ex-minister Maurya not to contest from bastion
“Whenever SP or Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was in power, Uttar Pradesh would be referred to as a sick state, but the double engine regime of the BJP carried out development. We will lead the state to become the number one economy if voted to power again,” Shah said, listing out various welfare schemes in Uttar Pradesh, including construction of toilets and 4.3 million houses for the poor, free health insurance and electrification of villages. One of the talking points of the BJP has been how its governments in the state and the centre have worked together for the benefit of UP.
“The past regime of ‘Bua’ (Mayawati) and ‘Babua’ (Akhilesh Yadav) locked the fate of lock industry of Aligarh, but the BJP included lock industry in One District One Product (ODOP) scheme. The industry is now fully functional,” the Union home minister added, speaking about his government’s efforts to provide a boost to Aligarh’s famed lock industry.
Shah also targeted SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav for his remarks over the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
“He (Akhilesh) stood in front of me and said due to the decision (revoking Article 370) ‘khoon ki nadiya bahengi’ (rivers of blood will flow) but Akhilesh Babu leave that river of blood, no one had the courage to throw even a ‘kankad’ (stone). Narendra Modi has secured the nation now,” Shah said.
He asked the voters of Atrauli to question the SP chief over his comments on the revocation of Article 370, when he visits the assembly constituency. “Was it wrong to remove Article 370 from Kashmir? But when the Modi government took the initiative, the SP, BSP and Congress opposed it. If Akhilesh Yadav comes to Atrauli ask him why he was against a step aimed at including Kashmir as an integral part of the nation.”
Shah also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi, claiming the Congress leader does not know the “difference between rabi and khareef” crops. “Rahul Gandhi claims to talk about farmers’ issues, but when he was in Aligarh, he promised a factory to grow potatoes. He is not aware if potatoes grow in the field or are made in a factory.”
Shah alleged that the SP, the BSP and the Congress cannot rule in a “transparent and corruption-free” manner. “Only the BJP and lotus symbol could give corruption-free government under the leadership of Modi.”
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party slammed the ruling BJP and its leaders for relying on “negative campaign.
Party’s Aligarh district president Girish Yadav said, “The senior BJP leaders are getting involved in blame game because they do not have much to say about their achievements. The Election Commission should intervene as often decorum of language is being violated by BJP leaders.”
The SP national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said: “The BJP has no right to talk of morality. It has given tickets to more than 100 persons with criminal antecedents. In 2017 polls, according to the ADR report, it had fielded highest number of candidates with tainted background and 45% of its UP cabinet members have criminal antecedents”.
