'Development is for Everybody': Yogi Adityanath Says More Muslims Than Hindus Benefited from Govt Schemes

New Delhi: Muslims have availed greater benefits from government welfare schemes than Hindus during the current government led by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said.

In an exclusive interview with News18 Network Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, CM Adityanath said his government does not differentiate between the beneficiaries of government schemes. “However, if statistics are believed, Muslims would come out to have received greater proportion of government benefits,” Adityanath said.

"Poor is poor. Government schemes should reach everybody without discrimination. It has been our motive that development is for everybody. Remember, in 2014, PM Modi said ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. This is not a slogan. This is a reality and we are proud that we took everything to the grassroots," Adityanath told News18.

"If we have given 25 lakh houses, all were not for Hindus. Muslim population in UP is 18%, but 30-35% houses have gone to Muslims," he added. He said the numbers reveal that Muslims got twice as many houses as the Hindus with respect to the proportion of their respective populations.

"There were poor Muslims and they needed benefits. We did not provide them with help based on a criteria. Whoever came in that category got the benefits. For us, it is the citizen of the state that matters," the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

On allegations that his government is pitted against the minorities, Adityanath said he has maintained same relationship with Muslims as he has with others.

"I have the same relationship with Muslims that I have with the rest of the people. We don't divide the society on the basis of caste and religion," he said.

Adityanath also talked about the provocative statements that he had issued during the campaigning of Lok Sabha election 2019 campaigning.

"I might have given statements considering the situation at the time. But we have never tolerated communalism, hooliganism and we won’t tolerate in future either."

Adityanath-led BJP government completes its half-way mark of its tenure – 2.5 years of its stipulated five-year term – on Tuesday. He faces his first big test in what is being called a mini-assembly election with 13 assembly of UP going to bypolls in the coming months.