UP will turn into Kashmir, West Bengal or Kerala if BJP doesn't come to power: Yogi's warning to voters

The Chief Minister also listed various initiatives and projects undertaken by the state government in his tweets

Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, gestures during an interview with Reuters at his official residence in Lucknow, India, February 7, 2022. Credit: Reuters File Photo

In what his rivals termed ''highly provocative'' and "objectionable" message, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath released a video hours before the first phase of polling in the western UP region on Thursday, cautioning the electorate against voting for his rivals and saying that the "terrorists" would take over the state if the BJP lost the polls.

''Atanki baar baar dhmka rahen hain...savdhan rahiye....aap chooke to meri panch saal ki mehnat par pani phir jayega'' (The terrorists are threatening....be careful....five years of my hard work will be ruined if you commit a mistake), Adityanath said in the video.

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''Is baar Uttar Pradesh ko Kashmir, Bengal, Kerala bante der nahin lagegi...aapka vote meri panch saal ki tapasya par ashirvad hai hi ye vote aapke ane wale panch varshon mein bhaymukt jeevan ki guarantee bhi banega'' (Don't let UP become Kashmir, Bengal or Kerala this time....your vote is not only your blessing for me but also a guarantee of fear free life for the next five years), the chief minister said further in the video.

The comments triggered flak from the opposition leaders from UP and other parts of the country. ''It is highly condemnable...its a brazen attempt to communally polarise the polls....it shows that BJP is losing,'' said an SP leader here.

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Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary in a retort said that the per capita income in Kerala was seven times of UP and in Bengal it was three times.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan also slammed the remarks saying that UP would have the best education, health care facilities and the people would not be murdered in the rame of religion if it became like Kerala.

Earlier also Adityanath had stirred a controversy saying that the ''red caps'' (Samajwadi Party ) were "soaked" in the ''blood of innocent Hindus'', who were "killed" in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots and were also fired at in Ayodhya in 1990.

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''Inki lal topian nirdosh hinduon ke khoon se rangi hui hain aur ye shanti ka paath padha rahen hain.....inhe sharm bhi nahin aati'' (their red caps are soaked in the blood of innocent Hindus and they are trying to give us lessons in peace....they have no shame), the chief minister had said.

Political analysts here said that the remarks were aimed at polarising the polls along religious lines and indicated that the saffron party was wary of a possible backlash from the farmers in the western UP region.

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