Kawardha, Chhattisgarh:
Action will be taken on those spreading chaos in the name of “love jihad” and cow smuggling in Chhattisgarh after the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday.
Addressing a poll rally in Kawardha Assembly seat, Mr Adityanath termed the Congress as a “problem for the country, society and public”.
Referring to the victory of the Congress in the 2018 polls in the state as a “mistake”, he claimed Ram Navami processions were banned, while a worker opposing “love jihad” was brutally murdered.
“There is a double engine government of Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh. Love jihad has been completely banned there. A law has been made in this connection and against conversion. No one can convert illegally. If anyone does such an act, then he or she will have to face the consequences,” he said.
Love jihad is a term used by right-wing activists to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to get Hindu women to convert by luring them into marriage.
“I am urging you to allow a double engine government in Chhattisgarh too. They (Congress) have been trying to disturb law and order in the name of love jihad, cow smuggling, and mining mafia. Just like in Uttar Pradesh, action will be taken against such acts. Then there will be no problem,” he said.
“Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have a very cordial relationship. For the people of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh is like their maternal home. This state is the maternal home of Lord Ram and the paternal home of Mata Kaushalya”.
Kawardha is as sacred as Kashi (ancient name of Varanasi) but mischievously they (Congress) have set up a person like Akbar (sitting Congress sitting MLA and minister Mohammad Akbar) here, the UP Chief Minister claimed.
“It is the mischief of the Congress to play with your faith in a holy city. Such a person has been placed here who does not have any concern with your faith and your development. Under his protection, all those elements are flourishing which disrupt the saffron flag and the symbol of our faith,” he claimed.
Accusing the Bhupesh Baghel government of corruption, Mr Adityanath said Chhattisgarh was formed under the leadership of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and 15 years of BJP rule under Raman Singh had led the state to reach new heights of development.
“But in the last five years, Congress disrupted the development here, which is the party’s tradition. The Congress is a problem for the country, society and public. It is the Congress which gave terrorism, separatism, policy of appeasement, Naxalism, corruption and anarchy,” he said.
“The BJP is a party that runs the government by making development, good governance and security as standards. We can see this in the new India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he claimed.
The Congress has cheated the people of Chhattisgarh and has committed scams in the Public Service Commission, liquor and cow dung procurement, he added.
He also addressed a meeting in the Pandariya Assembly constituency.
Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh will take place in two phases on November 7 and 17, while votes will be counted on December 3.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)