Lucknow, 4 August: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed the previous government for neglecting Azamgarh and said the eastern Uttar Pradesh district is now on the path of development.
“In Azamgarh, previous governments did not carry out development. Everyone is aware of the situation in Azamgarh seven years ago. So there’s no need to discuss it now,” he said at a public meeting following the inauguration and laying of the foundation stone for development projects. “The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government has ensured that Azamgarh of new Uttar Pradesh is on the path of development,” he claimed.
He opined on Thursday that people in Azamgarh had to conceal their identities due to narrow-minded divisive forces. The obvious reference was to the “terror tag” that had previously been attached to the district. Some of the accused in the Ahmedabad serial blasts (2008) and the Batla House encounter in Delhi were from this area.
Yogi Adityanath visited Azamgarh for the first time after winning parliamentary bypolls on the seat vacant by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to lay the foundation stone for/inaugurate 50 development projects worth approximately? 145 crore.
During an election rally in March in various assembly segments of the district, the chief minister stated that during the SP government, Azamgarh had become a “home of terror and criminals.”
“As a result of rajnatik sankirnta (political narrow-mindedness), the talent became a victim of divisive forces in the national arena. This caused an identity crisis among Azamgarh’s youth,” he explained.
“I am here to thank you all for ensuring your MP’s victory (Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua). I owe you gratitude, and I’ve come to launch 50 development projects for you,” Adityanath said.
While criticizing previous regimes and holding them accountable for the region’s sorry state of affairs, he stated, “Remember five years ago, the youth of Azamgarh had to hide their identities when they left the state. The reason was that if they revealed their identity, they could not find accommodation in hotels and no one was willing to rent them a room in their neighbourhoods. Consider how the person who left his native place for employment must have felt.”
He claimed that after the BJP took power in the state, people’s perceptions shifted. “Even when you, Azamgarh people, did not have BJP MLAs and MPs,” the government ensured development here. The chief minister stated that the Purvanchal expressway, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated in November last year, had connected the people of Azamgarh with Lucknow and Delhi.
