Secularism Doesn't Mean Being Obsessed With One Religion: Yogi to Opposition

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the previous governments in the state of discriminating on the basis of caste and religion and said that secularism does not mean being obsessed towards one

particular faith.

Adityanath also claimed that due to vote-bank politics, patriots like Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Abdul Hamid did not find their due place in textbooks.

Replying to a discussion during the Motion of Thanks on the Governor's Address in the UP Legislative Council, Adityanath said that his government did not discriminate on the basis of religion or caste.

But, the previous governments had shown discrimination, he alleged.

"If we are really secular, then this does not mean that we should be obsessed towards one particular community," Adityanath said.

Attacking the SP and BSP, he alleged the previous governments in UP had divided the society on the basis of caste and religion.

Adityanath went on to say that "it was because of the vote bank politics that Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan and Abdul Hamid never got any place in textbooks".

"Our government believes in 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. There is no caste or religion for us," Adityanath said.

He also expressed concern over the exodus of youth from the state.

Our government will arrest the exodus of the youngsters and they will get respectable jobs in the state, he said.

He said technical and vocational education along with skill development training will be imparted, so that 7-10 lakh youngsters can be given jobs.

Adityanath also advised the opposition to not view the Governor's address from a political prism as he did not belong to any political party.

Governor Ram Naik had earlier been bombarded with paper missiles by opposition members on the first day of the state Assembly session.

Terming law and order as a major challenge, Adityanath said that when criminalisation of politics and politicisation of criminals take place, a "peculiar" situation emerges.

"Our government will establish the rule of law and take strict action against criminal elements," he said.

The chief minister advocated revival of student union elections.

"A system should be put in place, where the students can from an open platform declare who deserves to be elected and the non-deserving person will automatically be out," he said.

We are also going to convene a meeting soon to decide a uniform syllabus for higher education, Adityanath said.

The chief minister reiterated that his government was committed to waive off farmers' loans.

Adityanath said that his government will start a joint venture to enhance regional air connectivity in different cities.

He announced that 30,000 constables and 2,000 sub inspectors will be recruited.

"There is no place for corruption in UP. In the previous regimes there had been anomalies in police recruitment," he said.

He also took a dig at SP, saying the uniform that school children wore resembled the dress of home guards.