UP Polls: Rape cases reduced by half during Yogi’s tenure, claims Shah

Senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Friday said in five years of the party’s rule in Uttar Pradesh incidence of rape have gone down by 50 per cent. Addressing a public rally in Pratapgarh’s Rampur Khas area, Shah claimed Yogi Adityanath’s government ended the “mafia” raj in the state bringing down the number of violent crimes substantially.

“Dacoity reduced by 72 per cent, loot went down by 62 per cent, murders by 31 per cent, kidnapping by 29 per cent, while rape cases went down by 50 per cent. This has been done by the BJP government,” Shah said.

He attributed the nurturing of criminal elements to previous governments of SP and BSP, and asked people to vote for the BJP if they wanted criminals to stay behind bars. “This SP-BSP, BSP-SP, the governments of ‘bua and bhatija’ pushed the state into control of strongmen and mafia. The BJP government in just five years relieved the state of mafia,” Shah said, referring to Mayawati as ‘bua’ and Akhilesh Yadav as ‘bhatija’.

The leader referred to jailing of politicians such as Ateeq Ahmed (SP), Mukhtar Ansari (BSP), and Azam Khan (SP) as an indicator of previous governments’ patronage to mafia. “They will come out again to harass you. Ensure BJP’s victory and the remaining criminals will also go behind bars,” he urged voters.

He said the BJP government reclaimed public land worth Rs 2000 crore encroached upon by the mafia and built houses for the poor there in line with “vision” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah also claimed that the BJP-led central government provided free ration for two years to people during the pandemic, while Adityanath bolstered the effort by providing them with lentil, oil, and salt.

For agriculture community, he said, “Ensure that BJP government is formed in UP, no farmer will have to pay electricity bill.” He said the BJP government will provide free scooty to girls, and laptop/tablet to youth to help them educate.

Pratapgarh goes to polls on February 27 during the fifth phase of assembly elections in UP. Election results will be declared on March 10.