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SP govt dropped cases against terrorists and rioters, says UP CM Yogi Adityanath
The chief minister was addressing an election rally in Budaun district, one of the strongholds of the SP, when he claimed that “no district was devoid of riots” before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2017.
Stepping up his campaign against the opposition ahead of elections next year, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday alleged that the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in 2012 “withdrew cases against terrorists who carried out an attack on Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya”.
The chief minister was addressing an election rally in Budaun district, one of the strongholds of the SP, when he claimed that “no district was devoid of riots” before the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2017.
“Remember what happened first when the SP government came to power in 2012? Riots in Kosi Kalan, then Bareilly, Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow and Kanpur riots. No district was devoid of riots. When the previous government came, it did not do anything for youth, women, farmers and the poor. It withdrew cases against terrorists who carried out an attack on Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya,” Adityanath said.
“The previous government used to withdraw cases on terrorists and rioters were called to the chief minister’s office and felicitated. But our government sends terrorists to their ‘lok’ (world). There is no leniency with terrorists nor any compromise with rioters,” he added.
It was in 2017 that the BJP stormed to power in the state after 14 years, securing three-fourths majority and demolishing rivals SP, Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The party won 312 seats in the 403-member Assembly.
Referring to the law and order situation in the state before 2017, the chief minister said: “What was the condition of UP before 2017? It had the worst law and order. On every second or third day, riots happened somewhere in the state. No festival and celebrations could happen in peace. Anarchy ruled.”
“After 2017, there have been no riots in the state. Now, people celebrate Diwali peacefully. Earlier, festivals were celebrated under curfews. After 2017, you have not seen any riots happen,” he added.
The CM also accused the previous SP government of indulging in dynasty politics. “For the previous government, khaandan was the state but... for us, 25 crore people of the state are family.”
Hitting back, SP chief AKhilesh Yadav said:“Ab woh apney khaandan ke paas jayein. (Now it’s time for him to go to his khaandan).”
“BJP knows that the SP is the main rival, and the SP knows that they have to consider BJP as their only rival. They are taking 2022 polls as a bipolar contest between them. It is unfortunate that instead of taking up burning or current issues, these parties are raking up old issues. They are doing things to psychologically impact voters against each other. Fact remains that after Ayodhya’s 1990 firing of Karsewaks in Mulayam’s tenure or 2005’s terror attack in Ayodhya, people did vote Samajwadi Party to power in the state. Similarly, Akhilesh Yadav is attacking BJP over demonetisation, while again the fact is that within months after demonetisation, BJP won UP with a full majority in 2017 state polls, and the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. So both the parties are trying impact voters psychologically and emotionally”, said a political analyst and former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University, Prof SK Dwivedi.
