Vote for BJP or see UP turning into Kerala, Kashmir or Bengal: Yogi Adityanath urges voters

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked people to return the BJP to power or face the possibility of the state turning into a "Kashmir, Kerala or Bengal?”.

Adityanath made the remark in a six-minute video message on Twitter, on the eve of Thursday's polling for the first phase of the assembly elections in UP. The CM said he was concerned that rioters, whose activities were curbed by his government, are now feeling uneasy. Terrorists are making threats, he added.

"Be alert. If you miss this time, the five-year effort will be washed away. And it will take no time for UP to become Kashmir, Kerala or Bengal." "This vote will be your guarantee to a life without fear,? Adityanath said in his appeal to voters.

उत्तर प्रदेश के मेरे मतदाता भाइयों एवं बहनों... pic.twitter.com/voB37uA3uV

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) February 9, 2022

The chief minister said he is satisfied that UP is now free from “professional criminals” and the terror of the mafia. “The Hindus who migrated from their home have returned,” he said, in a possible reference of the alleged exodus of traders after threats from criminals in Shamli's Kairana town some years back.

“Those who used to issue threats and extort money from traders are either in jail or left the state,” he said. He claimed police now work without any political interference, and women can move about freely.

The CM said he never worked in a "biased manner" during his term, there was no scam and no one could raise a charge of corruption of "a single paisa” against him. Highlighting the work done by his government in the past five years, Adityanath said it succeeded in providing electricity in all villages.

He claimed such development work had not been done over the past 70 years.

“We built toilets and this was not a move to get your votes. It was a matter of our mothers' pride. Elections will come and go but now women will not have to work on the 'chulha' (firewood stove)," he said.

He also mentioned the Ayushman Bharat scheme for medical treatment, the construction of expressways and industrial corridors and the free ration given to 15 crore people during the Covid pandemic.

He said medical colleges and oxygen plants are being established in all districts.