Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav Pushed UP To 'BIMARU' Category: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday slammed the previous Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) governments for pushing Uttar Pradesh to the category of BIMARU states, saying the "bua-bhatija (aunt-nephew) governments are not good for UP".

Addressing a gathering at Atrauli, Mr Shah said, "The elections of 2014, 2017, 2019 have been the ones that changed the fate of Uttar Pradesh. The casteist governments of bua-bhatija could not do any good to UP; the state came under the category of BIMARU state. The BJP government worked to bring about a change."

BIMARU is an acronym formed from the first letters of the names of the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. It was coined in the mid-1980s. BIMARU has a resemblance to a Hindi word meaning "sick".

Lauding the BJP-led state government for helping revive Aligarh's lock industry, Mr Shah said, "The governments of bua-bhatija had closed down the lock factory of Aligarh. The BJP government promoted the lock industry under one district-one product. Now hundreds of lock manufacturing factories have started here again."

In Uttar Pradesh, the first phase polling will be held on February 10, the second on February 14, the third on February 20, the fourth on February 23, the fifth on February 27, the sixth on March 3 and the seventh phase on March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.