2022 UP polls: Amit Shah slams previous govts for poor law and order in state, hails Yogi 

LUCKNOW: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday attacked Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the poor law and order situation during their regimes in UP.

He drew parallels of the current law and order scenario with the ones under previous governments. He substantiated his claims with the statistics and said the law and order situation in UP was the best under CM Yogi Adityanath.

Shah was addressing a rally after laying the foundation stone of Maa Shakumbhari University at Punwarka village in Saharanpur in the presence of Union Minister and UP poll in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and others.

"I was listening to Akhilesh Yadav's speech on TV. He says that crime has increased. Akhilesh Ji, what spectacles do you use? I have brought the figures to compare the law and order during the five-year tenure of SP government and Yogi Adityanath,” said Shah and claimed that the dacoity had gone down by 70 per cent in the state under CM Yogi.

Shah further said: "Incidents of looting, by the use of weapons, has gone down by 69 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. Murders went down by 30 per cent. Deaths due to dowry have gone down by 22.5 per cent.” He exhorted SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to go home and check the data. “During your rule, there was mafia rule in Uttar Pradesh, today law rules in the state," Shah added.

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Lauding the Yogi government for ensuring the security of girls, Shah said there was a time when not only riots occurred here but our daughters had also to be sent to other states for studies because there was no security here. Today, no daughter in western UP has to go outside for studies. Nobody dares to misbehave with them," he said.

On the closure of illegal slaughterhouses in western UP, Shah said it helped the Yogi government to check the communal riots while establishing a robust law and order situation in the state. Shah mindfully brought the issue of cow slaughter and the closure of illegal slaughterhouses in western UP.

The closure of illegal slaughterhouses had dominated the BJP poll narrative which won the party 109 of 136 seats of western UP in the 2017 assembly elections. Before the 2017 polls, Shah had started the BJP campaign by taking out Parivartan Yatra and the party emerged victorious with overwhelming support. 

Thursday’s rally of Shah and Adityanath, however, was different as western UP is said to be a bit hostile to the ruling party owing to prolonged farmers’ stir.

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Shah asserted that the BJP had fulfilled all its promises while ensuring that "those responsible" for exodus exit the state. The issue of the exodus had attained significant political overtones in 2017 polls following reports of migration of some Hindu families from Kairana town in the Shamli district.

In order to strike a favourable note with the cane growers of western UP, Shah assured a fair probe by the CBI into the sale of sugar mills of the region during the BSP rule. He also claimed that UP had paid nearly 90% of the cane dues to the farmers in the ongoing crushing season and the rest 10% would also be paid soon.

The Home Minister claimed that the previous governments promised development but never fulfilled it. “PM Modi not only facilitated the construction of Ram temple which is now taking shape in all its grandeur in Ayodhya but also fulfilled the commitment of development by working on the roads of the country. The Union Home Minister also listed the revocation of Art 370, the law against Triple Talaq as the achievement of the BJP government.