LUCKNOW: In a face-off with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh assembly on law and order, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday recalled SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s "boys will be boys" remark on rape.
While opposing capital punishment for rape, the former CM in 2014 had purportedly said: "Ladke, ladke hain… galti ho jati hai (boys will be boys… they commit mistakes)."
In a clear statement, Yogi Adityanath said that irrespective of the nature of crime, it is intolerable. If anyone commits crime in broad daylight, it will not be tolerated in the state. While reminding of the poor law and order situation during the SP government, Yogi said that the SP supports “every criminal who had become a synonym of anarchy and for whom crime was a profession”.
“However, now UP has set an example when it comes to improved law and order situation. In the last 5 years, there have been no riots in the state while during SP rule between 2012 and 2017, the state had recorded over 700 riots. Curfew was clamped in Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow and Bareilly for months,” the CM said.
There was not a single district where riots had not taken place, Yogi said and added that while in BJP rule, despite riots taking place in 7 states during Ram Navami festival, there were none in UP. It is for the first time in the history of UP that Alvida namaz during Eid festival was not offered on roads. Each festival was celebrated with peace.
Even the Leader of Opposition has admitted that criminals are dealt with zero-tolerance, Yogi said and added that it is for this reason that the BJP government has once again got a clear mandate in the recently held assembly elections. The way women and the people of the state have supported the BJP government is welcoming, Yogi said.
The CM also reminded the Leader of Opposition about how there was violence during and after elections. However, this time when some anti-social elements tried to vitiate the atmosphere, they were neutralised in a few hours only, Yogi said, adding that there were many who tried to show temper, but they have been controlled.
Coming to crime against women, the CM said that the BJP government was sensitive towards crime against women and it is for this reason that anti-Romeo squads were formed in 2017 itself. Adding to it, 218 fast track courts for cases related to Pocso had been set up.
Thanking the clerics and religious heads, the CM said there were complaints about old-age people, those who were ill and also newly born children, who were all suffering because of increased sound decibel of loudspeakers. Following this, the government appealed to all the clerics and priests to cooperate and the result was that over one lakh loudspeakers were either removed or their volume was reduced. This could have been done by previous governments, but they didn’t as they lacked will, Yogi said.
Replying to Akhilesh Yadav’s accusation of a woman’s death in Siddharthnagar, the CM while elaborating on the chronology of the incident said that gunshot was fired by one Jitendra Yadav that resulted in the death of an innocent Muslim woman. The gunshot was fired by an illegal arm, the CM said and added that the criminal was arrested. He said that the police have been given free hand to deal with such criminals.
Yogi also recalled the hooch tragedy in Azamgarh and said that when deep investigation was carried out it was found that the incident was linked with the Samajwadi Party leaders. “We have enough evidence to prove that and if we take the name of those involved, the Opposition will not like it,” Yogi concluded.
