"It was our government that provided electricity and built toilets," Yogi Adityanath said. (File)
During the Samajwadi Party regime in Uttar Pradesh, the famous 'Rampuri' knives were used only for grabbing land of the poor while the present state government is promoting it under the ODOP scheme to enrich people, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday.
Chief Minister Adityanath made the blistering remark in Rampur, the home turf of veteran SP leader Azam Khan while inaugurating some completed projects and laying foundation stones for some new ones, totalling 25 developmental works worth Rs 95 crore.
He also mocked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav over his remarks earlier that he too could have been built the Ram temple, saying he could have thought of it only if he had the time after developing graveyards.
Referring to the "Rampuri chakku" - a type of famous knife named after Rampur district, Mr Adityanath said the sharp-edged weapon has been included in the one-district-one-product scheme of his government for the betterment of the people of the area.
"We follow the 'guru Parampara (tradition)' for using the Rampuri knife under the ODOP of the district). Good people use it to protect the country and religion," he said.
"But wrong people misuse it for looting and capturing the properties of the poor and downtrodden. It became a tool for capturing the land of the poor during the SP govt," he said.
Attacking SP chief Yadav, the chief minister said, "I heard "babua" telling people that he too could have got the Ram Manidir built. He could have surely built the temple had he got time after building graveyards." "It's amazing that those who did not hesitate in firing bullets at Hindus in Ayodhya are now talking of getting a Ram mandir built there," he said.
Comparing the performance of his government with that of the previous ones, Mr Adityanath said, "The difference is clear. Before 2017, the accused of Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur riots used to be facilitated the Chief Minister's residence." "But after 2017, the farmers are honoured and Gurbani is recited there," he added.
"Our government adopted a zero-tolerance policy to eliminate crime and criminals, wrested control of the poor's property from landgrabbers and razed their illegal properties the ground with bulldozers," the chief minister said.
Mr Adityanath also targeted Yadav over his promise of completely free power for irrigation to farmers and 300 units of free electricity domestic consumers.
"When you did not give electricity at all (during your regime) where is the matter of free power? On the contrary, beg for forgiveness from the people for the arbitrary recovery of electricity dues from them that you used to do," the chief minister said.
"Today we can say that without discrimination in UP, there is electricity all the time everywhere, including the huts of the poor and palaces of rich people," he said.
"It was our government that provided electricity and built toilets," he added.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Yadav had said if voted to power, his government will give 300 free units of electricity to domestic consumers, and the electricity bill on irrigation will be waived.
Referring to the seizure of unaccounted and uncountable bundles of cash during raids by taxation sleuths at some perfume traders and manufacturers, including an SP MLC, CM Yogi made a fierce attack on the SP and asked them to apologize to the public.
"We are recovering money from the people who were looting public and buried it in the walls. In the SP government, the youth got cheated and did not get the job," he said.
Highlighting the BJP works in the Centre and the state, Mr Adityanath said, "After Modi ji came to power, the Kartarpur corridor associated with Guru Nanak Dev Ji was opened, while the previous governments used to exploit the poor, encourage rioters, inspire terror attacks and drop cases against terrorists."
Questioning the earlier Congress government in the Centre, the Chief Minister asked, "Why they did not abrogate the legislative provision in Kashmir during its regime? When the SP and BSP used to support Congress, why didn't they end it? The work of abolishing Article 370 has to be done by the Narendra Modi government."