Yogi accuses Cong leadership of pursuing divisive politics
LUCKNOW: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday launched a verbal attack on the Opposition, mainly the Congress leadership, for pursuing “divisive politics” and “patronising” a criminal lodged in a jail in Punjab even as he listed his government’s achievements and spoke about how the threat of Covid-19 loomed large following the new cases being reported in some states.
The salvo at the Congress came in the context of a recent speech purportedly by party leader Rahul Gandhi in Kerala, comparing politics in north and south India. Yogi, however, did not name Rahul Gandhi.
“I was listening to a statement of a leader of a national party (made in Kerala). Uttar Pradesh has elected him as MP many times. Now, he is ridiculing the people of Uttar Pradesh in Kerala. He is making efforts to divide the people….He has done so earlier as well,” said Yogi Adityanath while intervening in a debate on the motion of thanks to governor Anandiben Patel’s address before the joint sitting of two Houses of the state legislature on February 18.
(PTI adds: Addressing a public gathering in Thiruvananthapuram, Rahul Gandhi had said, “For the first 15 years, I was an MP in the north. I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues and not just superficially but going into detail in issues.”
“It is this mentality that has posed a serious danger to national security,” Adityanath said, adding Amethi and Uttar Pradesh gave enough opportunities to the Gandhis but they preferred going to Italy instead of visiting their constituencies.)
Although Adityanath did not name any leader, his observations evoked strong protests from the Congress members and led to brief interruptions.
He said, “I have not named anybody. But their reaction has proved they are guilty. They are insulting the people of Amethi and Uttar Pradesh….What is Congress up to by pursuing divi
sive politics?...”
“You have time to go to Italy, but you don’t have time to go to Amethi. Why will people elect you? We cannot force anybody to elect you?”
Rahul Gandhi, who was representing the Amethi constituency of Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha since 2004, contested from the Wayanad seat in Kerala simultaneously in the 2019 general elections. Although, he lost Amethi to Union minister Smriti Irani of the BJP, he won from Kerala.
Yogi, who spoke for over twoand-a-half hours in the House, asked the Congress leaders to question their leadership.
“Ask your leadership what kind of relationship you need to have (with criminals)… Uttar Pradesh’s 24 crore (people) have consistently supported a family. Everybody can see what feelings they have (for the people),” he said, referring to BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari, who has been lodged in a Punjab jail and the state government’s request in the Supreme Court to transfer Ansari to a jail in Uttar Pradesh.
(The UP government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the Punjab government was “shamelessly” protecting Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Rupnagar district jail in connection with an alleged extortion case, by not sending him to UP to face trial in several cases, according to a PTI report).
The chief minister also targeted Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, saying, “There is a political party and its leader tweets from Delhi without knowing the facts. She recently tweeted, raising the issue concerning a farmer of Lakhimpur Kheri. The farmer expressed satisfaction. If you ask her about sugarcane, she will talk about mango.”
About her visit to Mathura, he said, “When you come to UP, you talk about saving Vrindavan.” He said Vrindavan was the land of Krishna and how could one talk about protecting the land where even Kansa could do no harm.
He also did not spare the Samajwadi Party, saying the party was not following ideals of its ideologue Dr Ram Manohar Lohia.
He said, “Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary did not say anything about education in his address on the motion of thanks because the SP has no connection with the education sector.”
About accusations of crime against women, he referred to incidents of Unnao (poisoning of girls) and Hathras (rape) and said there should not be any politics on such issues. He said efforts had been made to protect criminals by giving new twists to such cases, be it the case of Unnao or Hathras.
“We have watched social media. Eighty-five per cent of tweets are from out of Uttar Pradesh, including from foreign countries. Why should there be a tweet from Pakistan on UP’s incident? There are tweets from Bangladesh as well. Will they manage the system from abroad and the state’s leaders will thereafter decide their course of action?” he asked.
“Will politics be done by putting our sisters and daughters at stake? It’s shameful,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath said efforts had been made by his government to control crime and added, “No riots took place in the state in past four years.”
He said UP was getting investment as the people were feeling secure now.
“China used to take all the investment earlier. But we have taken three investment projects back from China. India’s first display unit is being set up in Uttar Pradesh with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore. Data centre is being set up with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore. IKEA is also bringing investment of Rs 5500 crore in the state. Work is going on a war footing. Kanpur Metro work is in progress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi started work of the Agra Metro as well.”
(The chief minister also attacked the Opposition parties for their “worrying” behaviour during governor Anandiben Patel’s address.
“Governor is the constitutional head of the state and if the House does not pay proper respect to its constitutional head, it would pose a serious danger before the democratic system.
“Such behaviour raises questions over the legislature, and we are regarded as untrustworthy,” he said.
Besides being Governor, she is also a woman, at least the opposition should have respected that, the chief minister said.
Opposition parties including the Samajwadi Party, BSP and Congress had staged a walkout opposing governor’s address on the first day of the State Budget session on February 18).