Public money was spent on 'kabristan'; BJP govt using it to upgrade temples: UP CM

Adityanath trained guns at the Opposition parties who governed the state earlier, saying 30 years ago chanting of Jai Shri Ram was considered as a crime

In yet another indication that the BJP has been banking on 'hardcore Hindutva' to return to power in the state, where assembly polls are barely five months away, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought to paint his rivals as 'pro-Muslim' parties saying that the previous regimes (read Samajwadi Party, BSP, Cong) used to spend the public money on building boundaries around 'kabristan' (graveyards).

''Pichli sarkaron mein janata ka paisa kabristan ki deewar banane mein kharch hota tha....aaj ye paisa mandiron ke punarnirman aur sundarikaran mein kharch ho raha hai'' (public money was used to construct boundary walls around the graveyards in the previous governments....today it is being spent on reconstruction and beautification of temples,'' Adityanath said while speaking at a function at Ayodhya on Wednesday.

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''Those, who loved graveyards, spent money on it and those, who love their religion and culture, are spending money for their revival,'' he said, adding that as many as 500 temples were being renovated and beautified currently.

He also raked up the firing on the 'karsevaks', who tried to demolish the Babri Mosque at Ayodhya in 1990, and said that no 'Rambhakt' could ever 'forget' that incident.

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Adityanath said that those, who had ordered firing on the 'karsevaks', were now making a beeline to pay obeisance at the makeshift Ram Temple. ''The Rambhakts will be showered with flower petals if another karseva takes place,'' he added.

Barely a few days back union home minister Amit Shah had also dropped a similar indication when he had said that the rules of the previous regimes in the state were similar to the rule of the Mughals as the people of the state did not 'know' that UP was the land of Rama, Krishna, Shiva and Buddha.

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