Exhorting people to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked them to be part of the campaign to re-establish Himachal Pradesh as Devbhoomi where peace and harmony prevails, and not vote for Congress party which compromises border security and puts hurdles in the way of development.
In the third leg of his marathon rallies in the poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, BJP’s star campaigner Yogi Adityanath said the Congress sowed the seeds of terrorism in India by introducing Article 370 in the Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir as part of its appeasement and vote bank politics.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi abrogated the article and today Jammu and Kashmir is like any other state in India where a man from Himachal Pradesh can buy land and start a business of his own,” he said
Yogi added: “Congress’ hands have always been with the mafia, be it drug, animal, mining, land, or forest mafia.”
Hitting out at the then Congress government of Punjab, Yogi said that when his government was busy cleaning Uttar Pradesh of mafias and gangsters who ran a parallel government in the state prior to 2017, one of the dons fled to Punjab.
“I had to knock the doors of the Supreme Court to bring him back to Uttar Pradesh and make him rot in jail for his atrocities on innocent people and businessmen,” Yogi remarked, taking a jibe at the incarcerated gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari.
Yogi said that prior to 2017, Uttar Pradesh’s roads were abysmal, electricity supply was very poor, water was supplied to many places through tankers and mafias prevailed across the state but after he took over the government there had not been a single riot in UP in the last over five years despite the fact that the Muslims population was 6.5 crore in the state.
Besides, he said, UP was moving towards becoming the number two economy of the country and had already become a developed state.
Yogi said the country was scaling new heights of development under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the country celebrates Amrit Mahotsava of 75 years of India’s independence.
“Today, the world looks up to India whenever it is faced with a crisis. India’s global stature is continuously rising under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, India provided free tests, treatment and vaccines in addition to free ration to 80 crore people, none of which any other country did,” Yogi said.
Continuing his attack further on Congress, Yogi said, “For the BJP, nation comes first whereas for the Congress nation comes last. Could you imagine free vaccines during COVID-19 pandemic, a Ram temple in Ayodhya after 500 years of wait, abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Kashmir, or carrying out surgical as well as air strikes by entering an enemy country’s borders during a Congress government? All these became possible because of the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Modi, who is sensitive towards the problems of the country.”
Yogi further added: “Congress may not have succeeded in making every house have a tricolour in 55 years of its rule in the country, but Prime Minister Modi has made it possible during the Amrit Mahotsava. India has emerged as the fifth largest economy of the world today, replacing the United Kingdom which ruled India for 200 years and which incidentally has elected an Indian origin premier recently.”
Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Yogi said: “Have you ever seen this brother-sister duo of Congress during any crisis, or standing with the nation on some issue of national interest? During every crisis, they travel abroad. Unko nani yaad aa jati hai.”
He said that Himachal Pradesh was witnessing rapid development in the last few years with the opening of AIIMS, IIM, construction of highways, setting up of pharmaceutical parks.
Yogi was seeking support for BJP candidates from Haroli, Darang, Doon assembly constituencies in Una, Mandi and Solan districts respectively.