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Don’t inflame passions over CAA, Yogi warns ‘abba jaan’
“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 (against CAA), the state government will deal with it strictly,” Yogi said.
The Uttar Pradesh government will initiate strict action against all those who incite passion over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday.
The state, which used to witness violence on every third or fourth day under the previous regime, will also “not protect rioters but run bulldozers on their chest”, he added.
The chief minister was addressing a convention of polling booth-level BJP leaders in Kanpur when he warned “the person who is once again trying to incite feelings in the name of CAA”.
While the chief minister did not make any reference, his remark appeared to target AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi who recently demanded the withdrawal 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,” he said.
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 a direct attack later, Adityanath called the Hyderabad-based leader, whose party is contesting the coming UP assembly elections, an agent of the Samajwadi Party.
“Everyone knows that Owaisi is inciting feelings as an agent of the SP. But now UP is not known for riots but as a riot-free state,” he said.
Assuring stern action against rioters, Adityanath said: “Our government does not protect rioters but run bulldozers on their chest.”
Taking a swipe at the chief minister for his remarks, Owaisi tweeted: “Not a bulldozer, they mowed down with ‘Thar’. Those who were mowed down were not rioters or mafia. They were farmers of Lakhimpur Kheri.”
The AIMIM chief was referring to the October 5 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in which eight people, including four farmers, lost their lives after a vehicle belonging to Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’ ran over cultivators protesting against the agricultural laws.
Farmers alleged that the minister’s son, Ashish, was present inside the vehicle.
“And the father (of the main accused) is still a minister. ‘Thonk dengey waley Baba, I am the agent of those who got India freedom and those who kept citizenship of Indian away from religion,” Owaisi added.
Meanwhile, BJP president J P Nadda, who paid obeisance at Namdev gurdwara in Kanpur, asserted that no other leader has done the kind of work that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done for the Sikh community.
He also credited Modi with ensuring that copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib reached India from Afghanistan.
“Being a soldier of the BJP, I bow my head at the feet of Guru Namdev ji and say with pride that no one else has done the work that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done for the Sikh community and the Sikh brothers,” he told people at the gurdwara.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the Sikh community and has fulfilled their old demands. The prime minister has sent those involved in the 1984 riots to jail, no matter how influential they were,” he added.
