Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath on Sunday claimed that before the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state in 2017 only one community was getting ration, reported ANI.
“Did you get ration before 2017?” Adityanath asked the crowd he was addressing in Kushinagar town. “Earlier only those who used to say “Abba jaan [a term commonly used by Muslims to address their fathers]” were digesting the ration. The ration meant for Srinagar went to Nepal and Bangladesh back then.”
Adityanath added that under his regime if someone attempted to take away ration from the poor, the individual “will definitely land in jail”.
The remarks were also viewed as a criticism of the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government that was in power in the state till 2017.
The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that the “political agenda” of the country changed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.
“The politics that began in 1947 and was limited to caste, religion, region and language, family and dynasty, PM Modi made it for villages, the poor, farmers, youth, women and children,” Adityanath said, according to NDTV.
After the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s jibe at the Muslim community, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah criticised the BJP’s agenda ahead of the Assembly election in the state.
“I have always maintained the BJP has no intention of fighting any election with an agenda other than blatant communalism and hatred with all the venom directed towards Muslims,” Adbullah said in a tweet. “Here is a chief minister seeking re-election claiming that Muslims ate up all the rations meant for Hindus.”
Uttar Pradesh will go to polls early next year.
Earlier on Sunday, the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government faced backlash on social media for using what appeared to be a photo of a Kolkata flyover in one of its advertisements.
However, Twitter users were quick to point out that the flyover shown in the advertisement was actually situated in West Bengal’s capital city. They also spotted one of Kolkata’s iconic yellow taxis on the road in the image.
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Adityanath ad praising UP uses photo of Kolkata flyover, social media users point out
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