At RSS event, Yogi Adityanath lists highlights

New Delhi/Lucknow: The Eid Namaz was not conducted on roads for the first time in UP, and “the volume of the mosque loudspeaker has gone down” following the state’s recent crackdown, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday while referring to his government retaining power in the elections this year.

He was speaking at an event organized to celebrate 75 years of RSS-affiliated magazines Organizer and Panchjanya.

Other BJP chief ministers also spoke at the event, with Goa’s Pramod Sawant calling for temples destroyed in the past to be rebuilt and Uttarakhand’s Pushkar Singh Dhami reiterating that his state will form a “special committee” to implement Uniform Civil Code.

The chief ministers of Manipur (N Biren Singh), Himachal Pradesh (Jai Ram Thakur) and Haryana (M L Khattar) spoke mostly about various government schemes and development projects in their states.

Adityanath referred to the BJP retaining power in UP, and spoke about his government’s achievements, especially in law and order in the context of communal clashes occurring in some other states amid a string of religious festivals last month.

“In many states, there were riots after the elections were over. There were no riots in UP during or after the elections,” he said.

“After the formation of the government, Ram Navami was celebrated with fervor. Hanuman Jayanti celebrations passed off peacefully. This is the same UP where small issues led to riots. Now, you must have seen for the first time that Eid namaz was not held on roads. Now, you must have heard that either the volume of the mosque loudspeaker has gone down or the loudspeaker has been removed completely. Now these loudspeakers are being donated to schools and hospitals for their use,” he said.

Adityanath also spoke on the issue of stray cattle in the state and detailed the steps taken by his government. “You may remember that when our government came to power in the state, it shut down all illegal slaughterhouses. But there was an adverse consequence of this that we had to bear — of stray cattle roaming on the roads and in the fields,” he said.

“Earlier, they were smuggled into illegal slaughterhouses. To meet this challenge, we set up over 5,600 shelters for stray cattle. We are also setting up a new model where we will make CNG from cow dung, which will be bought at Rs 1 per kg from people. We have taken all necessary steps to protect cows,” he said.

Adityanath spoke about how a “grand Ram temple” is being built in Ayodhya, the “splendor” with which the Kashi Vishwanath temple complex has been rejuvenated, and new life being injected into pilgrimage sites such as Mathura, Vrindavan and Chitrakoot.

According to the Chief Minister, UP has started moving towards becoming the No.2 economy in the country under a “double engine” government, with the BJP at the helm in the Centre too.