"For me, 25 crore people of the state are my family," Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi (File)
Amid criticism from the Opposition and party colleague Varun Gandhi on the alleged lathi-charge on students protesting over teachers' recruitment, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath posted a cryptic tweet saying that the entire state is his family.
“For me, 25 crore people of the state are my family,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Sharing a video of the alleged lathi charge, Varun Gandhi on Sunday tweeted: “These are also children of Bharat (Maa). Forget about accepting their demands, there is no one ready to even listen to them. And then they are made to face this barbaric lathi charge.”
“Would they have faced the same treatment if they had been your children? You have vacancies as well as qualified candidates. Then why are you not filling the vacancies?” Mr Gandhi said.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also condemned the incident and said, “BSP demands that government immediately consider their legitimate demands.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, slamming the UP government over the alleged incident, said that the previous government led by his party was distributing laptops to the students while the present regime is resorting to lathi charge.
“BJP was making the country “vishv guru”. Our government was at least distributing laptops to the students, whereas they (state government) are resorting to lathi," said Mr Yadav.
Sharing the video of the purported incident, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi: “The UP government lathi-charged those seeking employment. Remember this when BJP comes to ask for votes!”
The Lucknow police on Saturday broke up a candlelight march by a group of people holding a sustained protest over alleged irregularities in a 2019 Uttar Pradesh exam to recruit 69,000 assistant teachers in the state. A group of protestors was trying to march from a prominent intersection in central Lucknow towards the residence of the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath when the police lathi-charged them to break up the protest.