Ambedkar Nagar (UP): Mafias don't have the 'right to live' if they 'interfere' with the right to life of the poor, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Thursday.
Addressing a function in Ambedkar Nagar to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of projects worth Rs 2,122 crore, the chief minister alleged that before the BJP government in the state, mafias would encroach the lands of the poor and stopped them from celebrating their festivals.
"Can any mafia encroach over the land of the poor today? Can anyone harass our daughters? They know that if they harass any daughter, 'Yamraj' will treat him at the next road intersection," Adityanath said.
"Tell me if the ongoing treatment of mafias is correct or not? Do you support it or not?" he asked the crowd gathered at the function.
Adityanath said it was because of the “double engine government” that the mafias in UP were receiving this “treatment”. The mafias were “creatures reared and brought up” by previous governments that served as their leaders’ source of income, he said.
“But we said that these creatures don't have the right to live if they interfere with the right to life of the poor. Their right to live will be snatched from them and they will be ended if they interfere,' the chief minister said.
Over 180 alleged criminals were gunned down in encounters in the state in the six years of Yogi Adityanath government from 2017 to 2023, as per data by state police.
According to the data, more than 10,900 police encounters have taken place in the state during this period. In these encounters, 23,300 alleged criminals were arrested and 5,046 were injured.
The chief minister also targeted the Samajwadi Party in his address.
“A war is going on between chacha and bhatija there. The family gets busy with ‘vasooli’ (recovery) whenever any recruitment is announced,' said Adityanath, in an indirect dig at SP president Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle and party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav.
"There were governments in the country (centre) before 2014 and in UP before 2017 who thought only about themselves and their families. But PM Modi has said that all 140 crore people of the country are his family.' 'There is only one pledge, the public is our family and we will do everything for the public. We will provide security and development for them," Adityanath said.
—PTI