The double-engine government made the best use of the locks of Aligarh by putting them on riots and ridding Uttar Pradesh of riots completely, said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday.
Seeking votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in the second round of municipal elections to be held on May 11, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said: “UP was known for its tala, taleem and tehzeeb (locks, education and manners), but the dynasts with casteist mindset shut down the lock manufacturing units. They had nothing to do with taleem and tehzeeb. They gave guns to the youth while we are giving two crore tablets to them,” he said.
According to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Maharaja Mahendra Pratap Singh, who was at the forefront of the country’s independence struggle, had given land to the Aligarh Muslim University, but not even a plaque was put in his name at the university. He added that the double-engine government had started building a state university in his name on people’s demand after the land became available.
Hitting out at the governments of opposition parties in the past, the chief minister said that they divided society on the basis of appeasement and created a gulf amongst people. “As a result, fear gripped people ahead of festivals. Curfew used to be clamped for long periods. Traders’ business came to a grinding halt,” he said.
The chief minister added: “Today, you are witnessing the change that Aligarh, UP and India are witnessing. India has come a long way in the last nine years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. What could not be achieved in 60-65 years, has been achieved in nine years. The government has worked to put a complete end to terrorism, Naxalism and separatism in the country. Wherever people of India go they are treated with respect. The country’s global prestige has gone up significantly while massive infrastructural development is underway in highways, railways, metro, rapid rail, airports and waterway in addition to setting up of IIMs, IITs etc.”
He further pointed out that the governments of opposition parties could not deliver even 10 per cent of the welfare schemes delivered by the double-engine government. “Houses and toilets have been built for crores of people. Fifty crore people are getting health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat. Youths are being connected with skill development, Startup India, Standup India and Skill India. Jan Dhan accounts have been opened of crores of people. Besides, the government has been providing free ration to 80 crore people for the last three years and at the same has given 220 crore free doses of Covid vaccines,” he remarked.
Chief Minister Yogi added that in UP, 54 lakh houses and 2.61 crore toilets had been built for the poor in the last six years while 1.75 crore free LPG connections had been provided to people. He also said that the government was going to provide free cooking gas cylinders on Holi and Diwali.
The chief minister said that 10 crore people were benefiting from Ayushman Bharat schemes in UP whereas one crore destitute women, widows, differently-abled and elderly were getting an annual pension of Rs 12,000. He said the government was also providing free ration to 15 crore people for the last three years.
Yogi said expressways, airports, engineering colleges, medical colleges and polytechnics were also being built in Uttar Pradesh.
Referring to Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said that what could not be done in 500 years had been done by the double-engine government. “Today Kashi Vishwanath Dham is being constructed in Varanasi whereas Mathura and Vrindavan are being decorated. Along with this, beautification of Naimisharanya, Vindhyavasini Dham, Lalapur of Valmiki, Chitrakoot and Rajapur of Tulsidas was also underway.
Yogi Adityanath said the previous governments indulged in appeasement while the BJP government worked on empowerment. Yogi said that a memorandum of understanding had been signed with the Airport Authority of India for building an airport at Aligarh. “We are going to connect it with air service and for the extension of the airport, Rs 700 crore have already been released. Work is also underway on Transport Nagar, which people have been demanding for a long time. At the same time, the lock industry has been identified as a One District One Product to provide it a global platform. A node of the Defence Industrial Corridor is also being built in Aligarh,” he pointed out.
In addition, construction of the four-lane highway from Ghaziabad to Kanpur via Aligarh is going on at a fast pace, the chief minister said, adding that setting up of a power plant had started in Harduaganj and it would make Aligarh the centre of energy production.
