Accusing the Samajwadi Party (SP) of doing appeasement politics, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on February 27 said its Government earlier did not provide electricity to people on Ram Navami and Sri Krishna Janmotsav, but power used to be supplied during Muharram.
Addressing an election meeting in Ballia, Mr. Shah said if people vote for the SP again, electricity will not come to Uttar Pradesh.
“Earlier, when there was Muharram, electricity used to come to Uttar Pradesh, but on Parshuram Jayanti, Sri Ram Navami and Sri Krishna Janmotsav there was no electricity supply,” he said.
Mr. Shah took a jibe at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying his goons used to make ‘katta’, or country-made pistols, in Bundelkhand, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi is establishing defence industry to make shells.
“The goons of Akhilesh used to make ‘katta’ and bullets in Bundelkhand. The Samajwadi Party worked to push the youth towards the direction of crime. Narendra Modi has made an arrangement so that the ‘golaa’ [shells] made in Bundelkhand can give a reply to Pakistan,” he said.
Mr. Shah also exuded confidence that the BJP will form the Government in the State again and the four phases of polling have paved the way for it.
“In the manifesto for the last election, we had said that the government would retrieve the [encroached] land of the poor and the Government in every district. Shivpal [Yadav] ji used to laugh at it and used to say that grabbed land is never returned. Yogi ji removed the encroachment from the government land worth ₹2,000 crore and made houses for the poor,” Mr. Shah said, praising Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
He also said the Congress gave the slogan of ‘garibi hataao’ in the seventies. “They were not able to remove poverty, but got involved in removing the poor people. The Modi Government has fulfilled all the promises made for the welfare of the poor,” he said.
“The districts, which I had visited, people used to say that they are fed up with mosquitoes and mafia. Modi implemented the swachhta abhiyaan [cleanliness drive] and provided toilets, thereby giving freedom from mosquitoes. Yogi-ji worked to free Purvanchal from the mafia,” he said. Targeting the SP chief, Mr. Shah said, “Akhilesh made U.P. number one in dacoity, loot, murder and rape.... Today, Atiq Ahmed, Mukhtar Ansari and Azam Khan are in jail. If you ride the bicycle [SP’s poll symbol] even by mistake, will they remain in jail? If you want to free U.P. from mafia and ‘bahubali’, then only the BJP Government can do it.”
