Lucknow, Feb 24 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday took a jibe at the opposition over their criticism of the state government’s arrangements for the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj, saying whoever searched for something at the Hindu religious gathering got it.
“Vultures got only dead bodies. Pigs got dirt. Sensitive people got a beautiful picture of relationships. People with faith got a sense of fulfilment. Gentlemen got gentlemanliness, the poor got employment, the rich got business. Devotees got clean arrangements… Devotees got God. It means that everyone has seen and felt things according to their nature and character,” he said targeting the Samajwadi Party(SP) and other opposition parties.
Adityanath also said that during the SP rule in Uttar Pradesh, the chief minister did not have the time to review Kumbh arrangements and that “a non-Sanatani was made its in-charge”.
The BJP leader was making a reference to the Kumbh organised in 2013 when Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister and Mohammad Azam Khan was made the in-charge of the religious congregation in Prayagraj.
In his address in the state assembly, Adityanath said, “We have not played with faith like you. In your time, the chief minister did not have time to see and review the event and therefore he appointed a non-Sanatani as the in-charge of Kumbh.” “But here I myself was reviewing Kumbh and am still doing it. This is the reason that whoever went to the Kumbh in 2013 saw chaos, corruption, and pollution. There was no water fit for bathing in the Triveni of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. The prime minister of Mauritius is an example of this who refused to take a bath,” he said.
Adityanath alleged that in the past one-and-a-half months, leftists and socialists made poisonous statements on social media about Maha Kumbh. The Maha Kumbh Mela began on January 13 and will continue until February 26. The chief minister on Sunday had said 62 crore devotees have come to Maha Kumbh.
“Apart from dirt, disorder and trouble of tourists, they found nothing else there. But apart from all this, their ideology has no effect on the ground. There is silence on hundreds of deaths due to conditions during Haj. The leftists and seculars of India who have been seen speaking on the Maha Kumbh maintain silence on that.” Adityanath said that this time people are visiting the Maha Kumbh continuously.
“The President, the prime minister and the vice president visited there. The King of Bhutan came, and heads of all other countries of the world — that is 74 nations — visited the place. All of them participated in the event and made it successful. For the first time… everyone became a part of this event and made it successful,” he added.
Lashing out at the opposition parties, the chief minister then went on to say that those who did nothing during their rule and had made Kumbh a victim of disorder and corruption, are now commenting on Maha Kumbh.
“By doing this, they are playing with the sentiments of India. Maha Kumbh has given the message of eternal unity of India to the whole world and realised Prime Minister Modi’s vision of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.” Terming the allegations of SP members of discrimination against a particular community in Maha Kumbh as false, he said, “There was no bias based on caste, region, opinion or religion. No discrimination of any kind has been done.” “All the people are bathing at one ghat. What can be a bigger message of unity than this and this is the true Sanatan Dharma too.” “You (opposition) said that a particular caste was stopped from going there. No caste was stopped. Anybody with good intentions should go to Kumbh with respect, but whoever goes there with ill intentions will definitely suffer if he tries to create chaos in Kumbh,” Adityanath added. PTI ABN NSD GSN GSN GSN
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