Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath emphasised on Sunday that all celebrations must strictly adhere to rules and regulations set by the authorities. He said those unable to comply should refrain from participating and remain indoors.

“Remember, during Muharram, the roads used to be empty. Today, Muharram is being celebrated, it is not even known. “In the name of Tazia, houses were demolished, peepal trees were cut, wires were removed from the roads. Today it is said no poor person’s hut will be removed.

“Today it is said the Government will make rules, if you want to celebrate the festival, then celebrate it under the rules, otherwise sit at home,” Yogi said addressing the party workers in the meeting of Uttar Pradesh BJP Working Committee in Lucknow which was led by BJP chief and Union Health Minister J P Nadda.

Yogi’s statement holds significant weight in light of the upcoming Muharram processions across the State and nation.

Last week, during a visit to Gorakhpur, the Chief Minister emphasised the importance of preventing the carrying of arms and ammunition during Muharram. He also called for strict vigilance over processions, stipulating that they should only proceed with written permission.

He stressed on the need to preserve existing traditions and cautioned against initiating any new ones and simultaneously said same kind of decorum and discipline should be exhibited in the forthcoming month long Kanwar Yatras.   

The Sunday’s meeting was also the first major meeting of the state BJP unit after the Lok Sabha polls, in which the party won 33 seats, down from 62 it clinched in 2019. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament. Former Union Minister Smriti Irani, who lost her constituency - Amethi - was also present at the meeting.

Boosting the morale of the party workers Nadda said results of the 2024 general elections have shown that whatever parties are there, if they are capable in the Northeast, then they are zero in Central India.

“If some party is capable in North India, then it is not seen in South India. If it is capable in West India, then there is no one to even take its name in the East, and if someone is capable in the Center, then there is no one to take its name anywhere in the North, East, West, South. BJP is the only all-India party, it is everywhere be it East, West, North or South India..,” said the BJP chief.

The Union Minister said only the BJP is working on the ‘mantra’ of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’. “We have to be confident and we also have to keep introspecting within ourselves. There are 1500 big and small political parties in India. None of them have internal democracy. Most of them are ‘parivarvadi’ parties and they are nurturing themselves and their family,” Nadda said. 

“...90 times Congress has toppled elected governments. BJP imposed President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir for 10 years and that too by saying in the Parliament that it is temporary and will be removed. Today, they (opposition) have started crying for democracy and have become protectors of the Constitution...It is written in the Constitution that there will be no reservation on the basis of religion. By flouting it, an attempt is being made to give reservation on the basis of religion not once but four times in Andhra Pradesh,” said the party chief.

Sources said issues such as public resentment against the party, leaders and workers not being heard, OBC and Dalit votes slipping away, ending the infighting within the party, removing the confusion about changing the constitution were discussed in the meeting.

The saffron party, which has been on brainstorming mode after facing humiliating results in the UP, started working on the strategies for the state assembly elections due in 2027.

Uttar Pradesh state president, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, said BJP-led NDA will win the upcoming bypolls to 10 assembly seats. The Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the assembly bypolls in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.

Of the 10 assembly seats in the state were bypoll is due, nine fell vacant after the MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha in the recent polls. The Sismau assembly seat fell vacant following Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Irfan Solanki’s disqualification after he was sentenced to a seven-year jail term in an arson case. By-elections are to be held in Uttar Pradesh’s Karhal, Milkipur, Katehari, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Meerapur, Phulpur, Majhawan and Sisamau assembly seats.