‘Yamraj ticket katne ko khada hoga’: UP CM Yogi’s Diwali warning to those harassing women

The CM also took potshots at the previous Samajwadi Party-led government, under whose tenure, he alleged, not just leaders and ministers but even the Chief Minister bowed down before criminals, the mafia and rioters.

“Utsah aur umang ke tyohar mein kisi ne rang mein bhang dalne ka kaam kiya, vyavahdan dalne ka kaam kiya to jail ki salakhen uska intzar kar rahi hongi… Woh koi bhi hoga, usko andar dhusne mein der nahi lagegi… (If anyone tries to spoil the spirit of this festival or attempts to cause any disruption, prison bars will be waiting for them. Whoever it may be, it won’t take long to throw them behind bars),” he said.

Warning anyone who harasses women, he said, “Agar beti ki suraksha ke saath khilwar kiya toh agle chaurahe par Yamraj ticket katne ko khada hoga… Yeh kewal UP sarkar kar sakti hai. (If anyone harasses a woman, Yamraj himself will be waiting at the next crossroads to cut your ticket… only the UP government can do this).”

In a veiled reference to the recent ‘I Love Mohammad’ protests, he said over the past eight years, all festivals — Holi, Diwali, Ram Navami, or even Eid, Christmas and Guru Parva — have been celebrated, and everyone has the right to do so according to their beliefs, but such celebrations cannot be “displayed on the road”.

Taking on the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP, Adityanath said that before 2017, the government could not think beyond the matters of the “Saifai family”.

He also alleged that while the poor were unable to celebrate festivals, goons and mafias, under the patronage of the then government, spread anarchy across districts, forcing the youth to flee. “In front of the mafia, rioters, and goons, the leaders of the Samajwadi Party — their ministers and even their Chief Minister — would bow down and give them a free hand to incite violence,” Adityanath alleged.

He drew a contrast to when the BJP came to power and made it clear that the government would not be run by ‘parivarwad’ (dynastic politics)’, but would treat the entire state as its family.

He asserted that this is not a government that bows before rioters. “Yeh sarkar jo jis bhasha mein samjhega, usi bhasha mein samjhana jaanti hai (This government knows how to respond in the language miscreants understand).”

The CM also appealed to the people of Uttar Pradesh to support “Swadeshi” diyas and idols, and assured that his government would stand with the deprived, including Dalits.