Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday made a strong pitch to bring back Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, as he promised to make up for the time lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and ensure global recognition for Mathura-Vrindavan.
The PM lauded what the BJP government has accomplished in the state and said if there hadn’t been the pandemic over the past two years, Adityanath would have done even better.
“UP chahe asardar sarkar, phir ek baar Yogi sarkaar (UP again needs an effective government, that is why Yogi government yet again),” Modi said during his virtual rally in 21 assembly segments of Agra, Mathura and Bulandshahr. The rally, PM’s third recently for UP, comes days before the first phase of polling on February 10.
“If Yogi ji’s government is formed again, the work of giving houses to the poor will be done faster... Had the government’s efforts not been spent on saving lives, the state would have reached another level under him,” he added.
Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The polling will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
{{/usCountry}}Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The polling will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
{{/usCountry}}Reaching out to the women in the state, Modi projected Adityanath as the next chief minister as he referred to the Centre’s Ujjwala scheme that gives free cooking gas connections.“The women of UP have decided that they have to make the BJP win and make Yogi ji chief minister again (Bhajpa ko jitana jai, Yogi ji ko phir mukhya mantra banana hai),” he said.
The PM also took a swipe at the previous governments, saying: “Those who were in power earlier were not concerned with faith or your needs. Their only agenda was to loot UP.”
“Witnessing the immense support for the BJP, these people are now seeing Lord Krishna in their dreams,” Modi said, in a veiled attack on Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
“It was their job to create fear, we are creating the future,” he added.
“Isiliye to ab hamari maatayein, behnein kehti hain, pehle hamein ghar se nikalne mein lagta tha darr, ab bhajapa raaj mein apradhi kaanpey tharr thaarr (that is why now our mothers and sisters are saying that earlier they were scared to step out but now under BJP rule, the criminals are scared),” he said.
Referring to the houses for the poor, built by the BJP government since 2017, Modi said: “What has been the attitude of the fake socialists for the poor? The previous government had built just 8,000 houses in the urban areas of Agra, Mathura, and Bulandshahr. In contrast, the Yogi government built over 85,000 houses in the three districts.”
He further accused the “fake Samajwadis” of trying to incite sugarcane farmers by telling falsehoods.
“Now, they are making false promises to farmers. They are also trying to incite them by making wrong claims but farmers in the state haven’t forgotten how they cried during the previous government rule,” he added.
“What development and progress is Mr Modi talking about? The state has gone down on various development indices. NITI Aayog has shown how poor the health infrastructure in UP is. Crime has increased manifold. Unemployment rate in UP is 23%. Does Mr. Modi wants to continue this state of failures? BJP is known for unkept promises. It’s 2017 Sankalp Patr is a bundle of lies. Corporate yaar and Nakli Rashtravadi is Mr. Modi’s real face,” said SP national spokesperspon Abdul Hafiz Gandhi.
(With agency inputs)