Patna: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress for promising freedom of personal laws in its poll manifesto and claimed that it was tantamount to supporting “Taliban rule” in the country.
The firebrand BJP leader made the remark at Fatuha, on the outskirts of the capital of Bihar, where he addressed an election rally in support of Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“The Congress and the INDIA bloc speak of personal law. They want to undo what Ravi Shankar Prasad had achieved (as the then Union law minister) by scrapping triple talaq”, alleged Yogi.
He claimed that the opposition alliance wanted to promote “Talibani shasan” in which “women will not have the freedom to go to schools, colleges and offices and will be forced to always wear the burqa”.
The UP chief minister, who is also the pontiff of Gorakshdham shrine at Gorakhpur, also said that after the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, “ram-bhakts (BJP) are resolved to build a grand temple of Lord Krishna in Mathura. This is something the Congress and its Bihar ally RJD can never accomplish because they need votes (of Muslims)”.
He added that the opposition alliance was allegedly in favour of “taking away” reservations meant for Dalits and OBCs and giving the facility to Muslims, “but the country will run as per the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar, which does not provide for quotas on the basis of religion”.
He also referred to the recent Calcutta High Court judgement striking down OBC status granted to a number of Muslim sub-groups by the West Bengal government of Mamata Banerjee whose Trinamool Congress was “an INDIA ally”.
In an obvious bid to underscore that the BJP cared for all the deprived castes, Yogi said, “We have honoured Ramayana figures like Nishadraj and Shabri in Uttar Pradesh by naming guest houses and canteens, respectively, after them”.
The BJP leader, whose tough stance on law and order has earned him the epithet “bulldozer baba”, claimed that ever since he assumed power in 2017, “goons have been begging for mercy, promising to give up their old ways and take up other businesses. Those who refuse to reform themselves are bumped off (Ram nam satya). Land grabbers’ property gets bulldozed.”
He also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with wiping out terrorism, claiming “now even if a firecracker goes off anywhere in the country, a scared Pakistan comes out with an explanation. It has realised that this is ‘Naya Bharat’ which will not be an aggressor but will not spare if there is any mischief”.
“Compare the scenario with the past, which I have witnessed as an MP. The Congress governments used to indulge in a scam in the morning and by the evening there used to be a terrorist attack. The regime used to just shrug off all such incidents saying terrorists had come from across the border and hence nothing could be done”, alleged Yogi.
He also charged the opposition with being obsessed with the neighbouring country and said, “They should all go to Pakistan which does not have enough food for its population. In contrast, the Modi government is providing free ration to 80 crore people. The number of people who have been brought out of the clutches of poverty in India is greater than the population of Pakistan.”
Yogi is scheduled to address another election rally in Arrah, where Union minister RK Singh is aiming at a hat-trick, before returning to the capital city in the evening for another public meeting.
