Shah Lauds Yogi Govt, Attacks SP Over 1990 Firing
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Uttar Pradesh BJP state executive meeting in Lucknow on Friday. The event was held at the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Auditorium of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Law University, where Shah lit the lamp and addressed newly appointed state executive members.
Addressing the gathering, Shah said the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh stood as firmly as Angad's feet and could not be moved by anyone. He added that the party would return to power in the state with a massive majority, leaving no room for doubt among workers.
Shah urged party members to show the single-minded focus of Arjun, seeing only the eye of the bird. He said the time had come to form a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for the third time in a row. The meeting began with the complete collective singing of Vande Mataram and was the first executive session after the reconstitution of the state executive.
Among those present were Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, state president Pankaj Chaudhary, national vice president Rekha Verma, state general secretary (organisation) Dharmpal Singh, state in-charge Vinod Tawde, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, state co-in-charge Jagdish Patel, national general secretary Smriti Irani, former state presidents Swatantra Dev Singh and Bhupendra Chaudhary, and several other senior leaders.
Shah recalled that the SP government had opened indiscriminate fire on Ram devotees on October 30, 1990, killing kar sevaks and disposing of their bodies in the Sarayu without even performing their last rites. He said the SP had carried out a massacre of Ram devotees, while the BJP had cleared the path for the magnificent temple of Lord Ram. He told Akhilesh Yadav that the people of Uttar Pradesh would never forgive him.
The Union minister said that Narendra Modi held the record for the longest tenure as an elected Prime Minister. He noted that the BJP's 240 seats in Parliament exceeded the Congress's total across the 2014, 2019 and 2024 elections. He added that the party, which once had only two seats, had grown into the largest party in the world, and that Modi had become Prime Minister for a third straight term with NDA governments in 22 states.
Shah launched a strong attack on the opposition, saying Rahul Baba and Akhilesh Yadav, after losing a match, kept blaming the umpire instead of practising. He said the BJP was completely ready for a debate on SIR in Parliament and offered to call a special session if Rahul Gandhi arrived. He accused the opposition of refusing to let Parliament function and of tarnishing its dignity by holding a mock parliament outside.
He told Akhilesh Babu to acknowledge the results, which included the most seats in Haryana and Maharashtra, the first BJP chief minister in Bihar, a BJP government in Delhi after three decades, a hat-trick in Assam, and the near complete washout of Mamata Didi in West Bengal.
Shah said that despite being led by Akhilesh and Rahul Baba, the opposition had not won a single election in Uttar Pradesh. Those who had never won an election on their own strength, he said, were now challenging the BJP. He emphasised that BJP governments would be voted in across the country for the next 30 years.
Shah said that since Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister, there had been a major decline in dacoity, robbery, extortion and riots in Uttar Pradesh. He said that crime had once forced the state to hold its investment summit in Delhi, while today the summit is held within Uttar Pradesh and is bringing in investment worth lakhs of crores. He explained that law and order had attracted investment, investment had created employment, and employment had halted migration from the state.
He said about 7 per cent of India's electronic component exports came from Uttar Pradesh and that the defence corridor alone had drawn 35,000 crore rupees of investment to the state.
Shah stated that even if the tenures of the SP and BSP were combined, the BJP's work over the last 10 years was about 200 per cent greater. He said Prime Minister Modi had left no gap in providing support to Uttar Pradesh, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had made no compromise in delivering it on the ground. He said Modi government schemes had been implemented best in Uttar Pradesh.
Shah pointed out that Article 370 had ended, triple talaq had been abolished and the UCC had been adopted in several states. He said the UCC would certainly be introduced in Uttar Pradesh once the government is formed there. He said the country had moved beyond Naxalism, the fight against drugs was underway, and drug abuse would be fully eliminated by December 31, 2029.
Addressing workers, Shah said the BJP was a party of workers, where leaders were also workers first, and where victory was won by workers. He said party members lived for their ideology and placed Bharat Mata above all, with the goal of seeing the national flag hoisted across the world. He concluded that India's development was not possible without the development of Uttar Pradesh, and that the goal of a developed India could not be achieved without the development of India itself.