Gujarat poll patriotism vs treason battle, time to disband Congress: Yogi Adityanath

In the beginning of his speech, Adityanath paid tributes to the victims of the Jhulto Pul suspension bridge collapse.

Yogi Adityanath also said the Congress could neither protect the country nor enhance India’s prestige in the world. (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)

Three JCB earthmovers were parked at the entrance of Yogi Adiyanath’s meeting venue in Morbi as BJP worker Hiren Parekh introduced the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister as “bulldozer baba”—an apparent reference to his government’s drive to free enemy properties from encroachment in the state. The moniker was received with raucous chants of “Jai Jai Shree Ram” from the audience.

In his first public meeting ahead of the December polls at Wankaner Morbi district, Adityanath described the Gujarat Assembly election as a battle between patriotism and treason. Saying the Congress cannot be trusted with the safety of the country, he said it was time to respect Mahatma Gandhi’s suggestion that the Congress should have been disbanded after Independence.

“This fight is between patriotism and treason, development and destruction, patriotism versus terrorism, country’s respect versus those opposed to the nation. Who else can understand this better than Gujarat?” said Adityanath, who is among BJP’s star campaigners.

“Had the Congress been in power, would the temple of Lord Rama be built in Ayodhya? Would the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Kashi get its grand form?” Yogi asked the audience, adding, “Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah abrogated Article 370 in Kashmir forever. Would this all have been possible had the Congress been there? Can the Congress share your joy and sorrow? Can it respect your faith?”

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The Wankaner Assembly seat has been a Congress stronghold where Mohammed Zavid Pirzada has been winning since 2007. The constituency is dominated by voters from the Koli community and Muslims.

Crowds gather at a public meeting in Wankaner. (Express photo by Chitral Khambhati)

The UP CM further said the Congress could neither protect the country nor enhance India’s prestige in the world. “Nor can it establish India as the world’s largest economy,” he said before continuing, “Yesterday, the National Anthem was being sung on a Congress stage. Midway through it, a film song started being played. This is their patriotism. They can’t even respect the National Anthem.”

In the beginning of his speech, Adityanath paid tributes to the victims of the Jhulto Pul suspension bridge collapse. He said he salutes the spirit of Morbi that has risen again after disasters such as the Machchhu dam breach in 1979, 1998 cyclone and 2001 earthquake.

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Today, the Gujarat model is being talked about everywhere and is being “replicated not only in the country but in the entire world”, he said. “Today, one can see the grand Somnath temple after its reconstruction in Gujarat. Work has been done to project the grandeur of Dwarikadhish and Ambaji temples. Similarly, ‘bhavya swarup’ (grandeur) of all religious places is visible in the country. We all are thankful to you as you repeatedly elected Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat. Thanks to his popularity, he became the Prime Minister and since then, Uttar Pradesh is getting his guidance,” said Adityanath while highlighting that the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya started after Modi became PM.

He also reminded the crowd that Kashi Vishwanath corridor and facelift of Omkareshwar temple in Ujjain also materialised after Modi became PM.

Later, addressing a public gathering in Surat’s Choryasi seat, Adityanath claimed that Uttar Pradesh, which had seen more than 700 rioting incidents between 2012 and 2017, has not witnessed even “a single” riot after his government came to power. “Now, there is no mafia, no gundagardi, the girls and women are safe. Those who are involved in such acts (of violence), then the bulldozer of UP is ready.”

He said Surat has a triple-engine government as the Municipal Corporation is also run by the BJP and the growth rate of the city at the pace of a bullet train.

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On the issue of Ayodhya’s Ram temple, the UP CM said, “In 2019 elections, the BJP had given the slogan ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai’. It was PM Modi’s vision and because of his leadership, all the issues related to the Lord Ram Temple at Ayodhya were sorted out and on August 5, 2020, he personally came to Ayodhya and attended the event for the construction work of the temple. It was the textile traders of Surat, belonging to the Agrawal community, who were the first ones to send donations for the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Once the temple gets ready by the end of 2023, it will become ‘Bharat ka rashtriya Pratik’ (national symbol of India).”

Attacking the AAP, UP CM Yogi Adityanath said, “A few people claim that they are magicians but in reality, magic does not exist. They will lure you with different freebies… Under the leadership of PM Modi, Gujarat has reached new heights of sushasan (good governance), suraksha (security) and samruddhi (prosperity) and become a model state.”

(With inputs from ENS, Surat)