Barabanki/Mirzapur/Ayodhya (UP), May 8 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday targeted the Samajwadi Party, saying the wrong message would go out if those who opened fire at 'kar sevaks' get votes in Ayodhya.
Addressing an election rally for the BJP's mayoral candidate Girish Pati Tripathi in Ayodhya, Adityanath referred to the incidents of firing on 'kar sevaks' in 1990, when the Samajwadi Party (SP) led by Mulayam Singh Yadav was in power, and said "a bad message would go out if those who fired at Ram devotees get votes".
Adityanath also addressed public meetings for the BJP's mayoral candidates in Barabanki and Mirzapur. The second phase of elections to urban local bodies in Uttar Pradesh will be held on Thursday. The counting of votes will be taken up on Saturday.
"Any devotee of Ram emerging victorious in Ayodhya in this festival of democracy will create a good impression. But if the person who fired at the devotees of Ram gets votes, it (will) send the wrong message…," the chief minister said.
In 1990, the Uttar Pradesh Police opened fire on 'kar sevaks' who had come to take part in the Ram temple movement in Ayodhya.
Promising development for Ayodhya, Adityanath said, "We will take Ayodhya to the highest peak of development. The eyes of the country and the world are on Ayodhya and so it is necessary to constitute a strong municipal board for all-round development. When a strong board is constituted, development will be rapid."
He said more than a crore devotees will visit Ayodhya once the grand temple of Lord Ram is completed in January.
"The better, more beautiful and cleaner Ayodhya is, the better the impression about Sanatan Dharma, revered saints, places of pilgrimage and India will go out to the country and the world," he stressed.
Earlier in Barabanki, Adityanath accused the opposition parties, including the SP and the Congress, of dividing the society on the basis of caste by pursuing the policy of "appeasement".
He said the BJP did not allow appeasement to flourish but focused on the empowerment of the people.
"The people of the SP, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress used to divide the society on the basis of caste by following the policy of appeasement. Not only this, a particular family used to be given permission to loot (people). Today, with the spirit of 'sabka saath, sabka vikaas', the benefits of the schemes are reaching people without discrimination," Adityanath said.
"We did not allow appeasement to flourish, but focused on the empowerment of the society and today its results are coming to the fore," he added.
He said when the country became independent in 1947, not many people could celebrate the occasion.
"But today, every Indian joined together to celebrate the Amrit Mahotsav of independence under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.
"In the first year of India's Amrit Mahotsav of Independence, India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is currently chairing the G-20, which is a group of 20 big countries in the world where 65 percent of the world's population lives and that have control over more than 50 per cent of the world's resources. The G-20 also has the right to more than 90 per cent of the world's patents," the chief minister said.
Not only this, during the Russia-Ukraine war, the government evacuated Indian citizens from Ukraine, he said.
India recently launched 'Operation Kaveri' to rescue its citizens from violence-hit Sudan, Adityanath added.
In Mirzapur, the chief minister said, "Those who made you yearn for a drop of water, make them yearn for one vote."
Alleging that "dynasts" created obstacles in the path of development as they had nothing to do with it, the chief minister said they looted the funds meant for welfare schemes for the poor.
"On the other hand, the double-engine government led by the BJP is engaged in solving the drinking water problem once and for all," Adityanath asserted.
He also made a reference to the construction of a grand corridor in the "abode of Maa Vindhyavasini".
Emphasising that the double-engine government is providing welfare benefits to everyone without discrimination, Adityanath said the Uttar Pradesh government will now give free cooking gas cylinders to the needy on Holi and Diwali.