People will not forgive criminals who wore 'red caps, mesh caps': UP Dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya

Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday said people will not forgive criminals elements under the “red caps” or the “mesh caps”, referring to the headgear worn by Samajwadi Party (SP) workers and many Muslims.

But he made clear that he was not referring to the entire Muslim community when he mentioned the “Jaalidar” caps but only the criminal elements.

“'Jaalidaar' caps should not be understood as the entire Muslim community. The criminal elements and those involving in corruption or the mafia will not be spared, and people will not forgive them,” Maurya said during an interaction with reporters after addressing a public meeting in Ghazipur.

He said the SP thought it will come back to power “by applying some extra force” but has now come to realise it will be lucky to get the same number of seats as it did in 2017 election.

“The same holds true for BSP and Congress," Maurya said.

Also read: UP Polls: 'Ours is ganna, theirs is Jinnah' says Nadda

He also said the BJP has never indulged in the politics of appeasement and will not do it in future.

“We are confident that our shortcomings in the 2017 UP Assembly elections in Ghazipur will be rectified, and ‘lotus’ will bloom on all seven seats of Ghazipur,” he said, adding that the BJP will bag more than 300 seats in the Assembly elections.

Earlier addressing the public meeting, Maurya accused the previous governments of selective development and discriminating on the basis of caste.

"In the previous government, development was done seeing the caste of the person, due to which development was confined to a few households and families. BJP is undertaking all-round development," he said.

He also accused the SP and BSP of operating like “private limited companies” and said both have taken leave of “democratic traditions”.

Maurya was here to inaugurate and lay foundation stones of projects worth Rs 177 crore.

Check out latest videos from DH: