New Delhi: It is not just the Hindus, but even the Muslims feel safest in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said.
Citing the examples of Bangladesh and Pakistan, the UP chief minister asserted that a Muslim family would feel safe among a hundred Hindu families, but it was not the case the other way.
“In Uttar Pradesh, the Muslims are the safest. If the Hindus are safe, then they are also safe. If there were riots in UP before 2017, if Hindu shops were burning, then Muslim shops were also burning. If Hindu houses were burning, then Muslim houses were also burning. And after 2017, the riots stopped,” Yogi told news agency ANI in Hindi during an interview on the completion of eight years of his government.
“’50 Hindus cannot feel safe among 100 Muslim families and the situation in Bangladesh is an example, where there have been several attacks on minorities and temples in recent months. A Muslim family is the safest among a hundred Hindu families. They will have the freedom to practice all their religious deeds. But can 50 Hindus be safe among 100 Muslim families? No. Bangladesh is an example. Before this, Pakistan was an example.”
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also fielded questions on the Sambhal violence and related law and order situation there.
His government, Yogi said, would revive as many temples as present in Sambhal. “There are 64 pilgrimage sites in Sambhal, and we have found 54… Whatever it is, we will find it. We will tell the world to see what happened in Sambhal?”
Violence broke out in November last year when a local court ordered a survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid. Four persons were killed in the violence in Sambhal. The Hindutva groups have been asserting that the mosque was built on the ruins of a demolished shrine, a claim rejected by the Muslims.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, meanwhile, took a dig at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, calling him a “follower and devotee” of Aurangzeb and Babur. Yadav and his party workers have been glorifying the Mughal rulers, he said. “Those who follow and idolise Aurangzeb and Babur, also have their qualities and become like them.”
Incidentally, the Hindutva groups claim that Babur, the Mughal dynasty founder, had destroyed the temple on whose ruins the Jama Masjid stands in Sambhal.
To a question on the UP government’s controversial bulldozer action, Yogi came out in its defence even as the Supreme Court has slammed demolitions carried out by the administration.
“Laws and regulations are only for those people who follow them. Those who take laws in their hands, then at times, it is needed to teach them in a language they understand,” he said. “If someone gets violent and attacks us, then do we beg in front front of them? No. If the other person has become violent, then we have to reply as well. Right?”
Yogi also criticised the opposition parties for blaming Maha Kumbh as an event of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Ministers and senior leaders of Congress and Samajwadi Party visited Kumbh, then how can they claim it was a BJP event, he asked. “It was an event that happened in a BJP-ruled state where the Centre and the state both together were taking care of the arrangements.”
Over 60 crore devotees are estimated to have attended the 45-day Maha Kumbh, which was billed as the world’s largest religious gathering. The gathering was marred by a stampede in which at least 30 people were killed in the last week of January.
Asked whether he would be the chief minister for the third time in 2027, Yogi replied that it was up to the party to decide. “Any worker of the BJP can become chief minister. It is the party who decides the face,” he asserted.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Yogi govt’s new ‘cow strategy’ involves school curriculum, radium belts & ‘desi gau mutra’
