Welfare of poor never on their agenda: Adityanath slams Congress, SP, BSP

Bijnor/ Bareilly (UP): Welfare of the poor was never on the agenda of the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged on Saturday and accused them of 'considering it their birthright' to play with people's faith.

The chief minister, who addressed election rallies in Bijnor and Bareilly, also said that anyone trying to illegally occupy any land, 'whether it belongs to Ram Lalla or a poor person', will have to face severe consequences.

At an election meeting in Bijnor in support of BJP candidate from Moradabad Lok Sabha seat Kunwar Sarvesh Singh, Adityanath asserted that his government has acted tough against criminals and said, "Today there is no curfew or riot in Uttar Pradesh. Everything is fine here."

The chief minister said every person in Moradabad is safe because the governments at the Centre and state care about their interests. 'When we make a good decision, we get good results. When we make a bad decision, we suffer its consequences,' he stressed.

"Development and welfare of the poor were not on the agenda of Congress, SP and BSP. They considered it their birthright to play with (people's) faith. They used to compromise with the security of the people and glorify criminals," Adityanath alleged.

"Whatever the BJP government says, it does. Now the criminals are in jail or hell. Now no one can threaten a woman or a businessman because they know the consequences," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister claimed that only the BJP can provide this security.

He slammed the opposition parties over the law-and-order situation in the state when they were in power, and claimed that the once-powerful gangsters are now whining and begging that their lives be spared.

"There was a terrible riot in Moradabad in 1980 and dozens of people were killed. The report was suppressed till 2017. When I started investigating it, those who instigated the riots were exposed... There was an anti-Sikh riot in Saharanpur in 2016. Today, the rioters are begging for their lives."

"The BJP has given a model of development and good governance... Curfew has now been replaced by Kanwar Yatra," he said.

The senior BJP leader claimed that the poor in the country used to die of hunger before 2014. But now 80 crore poor people are getting ration, he said.

"Earlier, if a poor person fell ill the family would be ruined. In Uttar Pradesh, we have made such arrangements that if someone who does not have an Ayushman card, if an MP or MLA... writes a letter, money is sent directly to his account, in other words. No one should be deprived of treatment due to lack of money... About 10 crore people have got free cylinders."

Seeking votes for BJP candidates Jitin Prasada of Pilibhit and Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar of Bareilly at another rally at Baheri, Adityanath said that now no one can illegally occupy land, "whether it belongs to Ram Lalla or a poor person".

"Criminals involved in grabbing people's land will have to pay a heavy price. Their properties will be confiscated and used for building homes for the poor, as was done in Prayagraj," he said.

Adityanath claimed that earlier Bareilly witnessed riots every month.

Claiming that rioters were now begging for their lives, the chief minister said, "Now, it is not possible for anyone to trigger a riot and then get a fatwa issued from a party to unleash lawlessness." "I want to reassure the people that over the past seven years, we have made efforts to resolve the issues affecting sugarcane farmers and sugar mills. Currently, we're overseeing the operation of 120 sugar mills, out of which 105 ensure prompt payments within a week, while there have been some delays in payments from the remaining 15 mills," he said.

"We focus on solutions, not problems," Adityanath added.

In Uttar Pradesh, Moradabad and seven other parliamentary constituencies -- Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Rampur and Pilibhit -- will go to polls in the first phase on April 19.

Polling in Bareilly along with Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun and Aonla will be held in the third phase on May 7.