Is “abba jaan” an "unparliamentary word", Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked on Wednesday, questioning why those who want Muslim votes are shy of using it.
"I have not taken any names. They want Muslim votes, why should they shun it? Is it an unparliamentary word? It is not. No one should have any problem with it," asserted the U.P. chief minister, facing the Oppositions' ire over his 'abba jaan' remark on Saturday in Kushinagar.
In Kushinagar on Saturday, Mr. Adityanath, in an apparent attack against the Samajwadi Party had said people who say "abba jaan" used to digest all the ration earlier.
The U.P. Chief Minister made the assertion at the Times Now Navbharat conclave here when asked about Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav’s displeasure over the use of term “abba jaan”.
Asked what is the message that he wanted to give, Mr. Adityanath said, "The message is clear. People understand it. I do not have to make them understand. Those who are 'nasamajh ' (naïve) will not understand it." In the conclave, Mr. Adityanath also attacked Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, accusing him of having "no thought for the development".
"He had no time (when he was in power). He used to wake up at 11 am and spend two hours after that taking bath. And after taking lunch, he would go to the office for 10 minutes and remained busy in his friend circle (for the rest of the day),” Mr. Adityanath said.
“In such a situation, how could he have led 22-24 crore people of the state?" he asked.
Mr. Adityanath also asserted that no bulldozer was run over the houses of the poor.
Only those who earned money with corrupt means and encroached upon government land are being targeted in his regime, he said.
"The pain of those in whose regime goons and mafia ran the government is visible," Mr. Adityanath said.
The U.P. CM also alleged the prevalence of rampant corruption during the Samajwadi Party regime before him.
The cost of Purvanchal Expressway was reduced to ₹11,800 crore from ₹ 15,200 crore in the SP regime, the CM said and asked "in whose pocket the money was going?" "Between 1947 and 2017, only two expressways were built in U.P. But, in the past four and a half years, we have built five expressways,” he said.
“Improving public transport was not on the agenda of Congress which ruled the state for the maximum time. The SP also did not have any development agenda. The BSP chief has herself accepted it, saying she would not install her statues and will focus on development instead if voted to power again," he said.
Mr. Adityanath also informed the conclave that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon inaugurate the Purvanchal Expressway and lay the foundation stone of the Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.
Asked about the speculation over a possible change of the Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh, after similar moves in Uttarakhand and Gujarat, Mr. Adityanath said, "The BJP is a democratic party. It is the biggest party in the country and the world. We believe that party is more important than a person and the country is more important than the party." "The BJP is not a family's party. I am the CM today and may work as a common worker tomorrow. It’s not the post but the work of a person is important in this party. If you prove your worth, you will be the part of the arrangement, otherwise, you will be placed where you fit. This is the party's ideology," he said at the media event.
He said while metro work is going on in full swing in Agra and Kanpur, the metro project reports for Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad and Meerut are in the pipeline.
Asked about Akhilesh Yadav’s claim that his party would win 400 seats in the state, the CM said, "He does not know the counting. He must have seen on Twitter or his survey team might have told him that they are lagging on 400 seats.” “The way he talks shows his frustration. He is threatening officers but the people are ready to give him the reply,” he added.
The Chief Minister also asserted that no one in the state considers the SP a decent party.
"The party was synonymous with the riots, loot, fear, hooliganism, anarchy and grabbing property. This cannot happen in the BJP regime," Mr. Adityanath said.
Referring to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi without taking their names, the CM said, "Some people will remain Pappu and Babua.” Mr. Adityanath also exuded confidence that the BJP will come back to power in Uttar Pradesh after the 2022 state assembly elections with more than 350 seats in the 403-member House.
“I am coming back. What has not happened in the past 35 years will happen next year,” he quipped when asked that no CM got re-elected in UP after assembly polls.
On AIMIM's entry in the U.P. poll arena, he said, Asaduddin Owaisi has come from "Bhayganagar' (referring to Hyderabad) and is free to test his “bhagya " (fate) here.
About the issue on which the BJP would go to the polls in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Adityanath named "nationalism and development" as his electoral agenda.
"Other parties including the SP, BSP and the Congress should also compare the work done in their regime with those carried out during the BJP government. Due to a secure and corruption-free atmosphere, everyone is ready to invest in UP now," he said, adding "nepotism and corruption" were the main problems in the state during earlier regimes.
Asked about speculation over the expansion of his Cabinet, the Chief Minister said, “If any such thing happens, it will reach you also." The CM also termed the Muzaffarnagar riots during the previous SP regime as "government-sponsored riots" and justified withdrawing the cases lodged due to "political reasons" for harassment.
When asked about banning meat in Mathura, he said that turning vegetarian is good for health.
On the status of COVID-19 vaccination in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh is the first state in India to administer nine crore doses, which is roughly half of the state's population.
“I thank Prime Minister Modi for making it possible in India. The country has crossed 75 crore doses due to the PM's hard work,” he said.
Published - September 16, 2021 09:15 am IST
