New Delhi: A report presented by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in assembly Monday to mark the completion of 8 years in power stated that 222 ‘mafias’ were killed and 8,118 were injured in encounters with the police between 2017 and 2025.
It also said that action was taken against 79,984 criminals under the Gangsters Act and against 930 criminals under the National Security Act (NSA) in the past eight years.
The report, which focused heavily on ‘improved law and order’ in the state, said properties worth over 4,076 crore, illegally acquired by mafias and criminals, were seized over the same time period. Moreover, 2,16,450 police personnel, including 27,178 women police personnel, were recruited.
Later, a press conference was designed around ‘8 Years of Service, Security, and Good Governance in Uttar Pradesh’.
The 92-page booklet—accessed by ThePrint—also said that in the past eight years, the government introduced a number of new initiatives in policing, including crime analytics, crime data portals, important crime monitoring portals, field unit portals and investigations, and police parade portals.
In the coming days, police are likely to come up with an ‘investigating officer app’ (IO app) to give more information to the public, such as the status of a case or the issuance of summons.
Functionaries at the CM’s office said, “It was the chief minister’s choice to mention the law and order improvement in the starting of the booklet.”
The functionaries also claimed that the law and order narrative played an important role in the BJP’s victory in the 2022 assembly polls. It also helped develop Adityanath’s image as a “sakhth mukhyamantri” (strict chief minister).
Speaking at a press conference in Lucknow to mark eight years of the BJP government, CM Adityanath credited “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies of service, security and good governance” for the UP’s progress. He also said that, before 2017, UP was categorised among India’s lagging regions, or ‘BIMARU’ states, and was seen as a hurdle to national development.
प्रदेश वासियों का इस 8 वर्ष की शानदार यात्रा में योगदान के लिए हृदय से अभिनंदन… pic.twitter.com/tFET0T3Kyd
— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) March 24, 2025
He said that people witnessed riots in the state before 2017 but now the law and order situation has improved. At the time, Yogi said UP’s identity was in deep crisis. “Farmers were committing suicide, the youth were searching for purpose, daughters and businessmen felt unsafe, and riots and lawlessness had crippled the economy.”
“But in eight years, the double-engine government has transformed that perception. Today, Uttar Pradesh is leading progress across every sector, becoming a breakthrough force in the nation’s development,” he said.
Reacting to the report, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “What is the point of celebrating 8 years when there are cases of encounters and rapes are coming daily in headlines.”
“When the chief minister was doing a PC [press conference] in Lucknow, a girl was raped and killed in the same town. Similarly, in UP’s Ballia, a girl was found hanging with hands tied behind her back,” he further said, asking if there were examples of zero tolerance, as he spoke to the media outside Parliament Monday.
Focused on agricultural growth rate
Adityanath also emphasised the agricultural growth in the state. According to the CM, agriculture had been completely neglected in Uttar Pradesh before 2017. Farmers had been struggling, and the sector was on a decline. Reforms under the “double-engine” government have changed the situation significantly, he added.
UP’s agricultural growth rate, which was around 5 percent in 2016-17, has now risen to over 13.5 percent, he said. The state’s economic turnaround began with the first cabinet decision of his government, waiving farmers’ loans worth Rs 36,000 crore.
As a result, food grain production, which stood at 557 lakh metric tonnes in 2016-17, increased to over 668 lakh metric tonnes last year, rising nearly 20 percent, he said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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