Yogi Adityanath has been one of the most successful Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh in terms of fighting the organised mafia, restoring law and order and also developing the state. At the ‘Destination Uttar Pradesh’ conclave, Yogi Adityanath spoke to Times of India and opened up about what made him join politics after he was appointed the successor of Goraksh Peeth in 1994.
Speaking to TOI, Yogi Adityanath narrated two incidents from 1994 and 1995 that shaped him and led him to join politics. He said that it was 1994-1995 when there was a well-known family from Gorakhpur who had two big havelis. Those havelis had been allocated, unilaterally, to the mafia by the Uttar Pradesh government and administration. When Yogi Adityanath met the family, he saw that they had torn down the two havelis. On being asked why, the family said that they tore down their property because, in this way, they would at least be able to retain the land. Had they not demolished the buildings, they would have been left with nothing since the mafia would have taken the havelis and the land over.
The other incident that Yogi Adityanath narrated related to a minister in Uttar Pradesh. While Yogi Adityanath did not name the minister, he said that one day, he got a call from a rich family who said that their property was being occupied by a minister. When Yogi reached there, he saw that the belongings of the individual were being thrown out of the house and that several people were standing around, but doing nothing. When Yogi Adityanath asked the people how they could do this given that the owner had not sold his property to them, the mafia simply waved some papers in his face. It was at that point in time that Yogi Adityanath says that he told the crowd to beat them up.
These two incidents and several incidents like these, Yogi Adityanath says, shaped his political career and compelled him to join politics. He says that now, nobody can afford to do such activity in Uttar Pradesh anymore and that they know if they illegally occupy any property they will face the bulldozer.
Further, talking about allegations of how his crackdown on the mafia was ‘one sided’, Yogi Adityanath said that the mafia is mafia and cannot be linked to caste, religion, creed or politics and that they are the worst enemy of the society – worse than coronavirus.
Saying that he is unfazed by the UP elections being a referendum on his work, Yogi Adityanath said that he is confident that BJP would get over 350 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
