‘UP is much safer under BJP regime’: Shah slams Akhilesh
LUCKNOW: Ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, Union home minister Amit Shah lashed out at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday over the latter’s claims that crime jumped in India’s largest state under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),
Shah was addressing a joint rally in the politically crucial western part of the state with chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who accused the Opposition of not having a development agenda. “I have comparative data of crime under both governments. Akhileshji aap kahan se chashma laaye ho? (From where have you brought your glasses?),” the minister said.
The minister said that dacoity in the state reduced by 70% and incidents of loot reduced by 69% under the present state government. Further, cases of murder dropped by 69% while that of dowry deaths fell by 22.5%, he said and added that the former CM must “go home and examine the data”.
Shah was addressing a public meeting at Puwarka in Saharanpur district after virtually laying the foundation stone of Maa Shakumbhari State University.
On October 18, Yadav had attacked the state government, saying: “Under the BJP government, UP has made it to the first spot in ease of committing crime.” The SP chief was referring to an incident in which a lawyer was shot dead inside court premises in Shahjahanpur district. Yadav was CM of Uttar Pradesh between 2012 and 2017 before losing power to the BJP in a landslide.
Shah said the people of western Uttar Pradesh faced terror by the mafia earlier but the Adityanath government had put an end to troubles by taking strict action against such criminals.
“Mafia and criminals now surrender before police,” Shah said while heaping praises on the chief minister for creating an atmosphere free of fear and safe for women.
Listing the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led government — effective abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, abolishing of the instant Triple Talaq and building of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya — Shah said the Prime Minister had done what no one else could do in the past 70 years. On the new university in district,
Shah said it will ensure that young people in the district don’t have to move to other states for studies.
“Earlier, people had to send their sisters and daughters outside to pursue studies because their parents feared for their security in the region. But now nobody has the courage to misbehave with daughters and sisters,” he said.
Adityanath accused the opposition of not having a development agenda. “Uttar Pradesh, which was once known as a BIMARU state, is now actively contributing to the country’s development,” he added.
BIMARU is a term coined in the mid-1980s from first letters of the states Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Similar to the Hindi word ‘bimar’ (sick), it was used to refer to the poor economic conditions of those states at that time.
Reacting to Shah’s remarks, SP state spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said: “From top to bottom, the BJP leadership lies. Under the BJP rule, the state for four-and-a-half years had been hogging headlines nationally for crimes. The government and its lies are exposed and people will throw this government out and bring in an SP government.”