Earlier Governments Wanted To Use Police As Personal Tool: Yogi Adityanath

Claiming success in controlling crime in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday accused his predecessors of failing to undertake police reforms and said they wanted to use the department as their "personal tool".

He alleged that the Samajwadi Party (SP), which was in power from 2012 to 2017 in the state, only "usurped money" in the garb of building graveyards.

The chief minister also claimed that the state was free of riots and terrorist activities for five years and that Uttar Pradesh had now become the preferred destination for investors.

Giving out details on the number of riots in the previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) governments, Mr Adityanath said, "In BSP regime (2007-2012), there were 364 riots. During the SP tenure (2012-2017), there were over 700 big riots in which hundreds were killed.

"Since 2017, no riots have taken place in the state. Yet, the government isn't quiet. We are building an Anti-Terrorism Squad Centre at sensitive places in view of national security," he said at a press conference here.

Comparing the Samajwadi Party government in 2016-2017 with his regime in 2020-2021 using the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the chief minister said cases of dacoity came down by 58 per cent, loot by 64 per cent, murder by 23 per cent, kidnapping by 53 per cent, dowry killing by eight per cent and rape by 43 per cent.

"Despite being a big state, we achieved success in bringing down these cases. We introduced the anti-conversion law and the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property law," he said.

Speaking further, Mr Adityanath said 155 hardcore criminals were killed in encounters while another 3,638 were injured in raids among others during his tenure.

"Thirteen police personnel were also killed while 1,236 policemen were injured. As many as 48,038 people were arrested under the Gangster Act while the National Security Act was invoked against 694 criminals," he said.

According to the chief minister, illegal properties worth Rs 2,046 crore belonging to criminals were seized and demolished.

"Police recruitment could not be held (in previous regime). We recruited 1.5 lakh personnel in a transparent manner and promoted thousands of them. We worked towards modernizing the police force, police lines and stations," he said, adding that the number of women in the department had tripled compared to the previous governments.

He said better law and order practice changed the image of the state and, as a result, Memorandums of Understanding for investment proposals worth Rs 4.68 lakh crore were signed in its first investment summit.

A record Rs 3 lakh crore worth projects have already been executed, he mentioned.

Even during COVID-19, the state received investment proposals worth over Rs 66,000 crore, he said.

Taking a dig at the SP and its chief, Mr Adityanath said, "In the name of development, there used to be 'bandar baant' (usurping) of money in the previous regimes. If you want to see SP's development, it is not seen anywhere except the boundary walls of 'kabristan' (graveyards)." 

He was alleging that the Akhilesh Yadav government had been biased and worked in favour of one community. The BJP had taken up this issue during the campaign in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly polls when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, "If you create a kabristan (graveyard) in a village, then a shamshaan (cremation ground) should also be created."