NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday accused Congress of delaying the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya for decades and asserted that the party has historically created problems for the nation.
Reflecting on what he called a decades-long failure of Congress to resolve the Ram temple issue, Adityanath credited the BJP’s rise to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing a solution in 2019.
“Ram Temple in Ayodhya should’ve been built immediately after Independence in 1947, but the Congress government created a controversy. Congress couldn’t find a solution to this problem for 65 years, but PM Modi came to power in 2014 and under his leadership, BJP came to power in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh, and the solution to this problem was found in 2019,” Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said at a public gathering in Faridabad.
He highlighted that the BJP, under PM Modi’s leadership, has made significant strides in addressing problems that he claims were neglected for decades.
Continuing his critique, Adityanath accused Congress of being synonymous with national crises, saying, “Congress is the name of problems. All the national problems are due to Congress. The partition of India, weakening India on the basis of caste, religion, and language, pushing India into terrorism, naxalism, extremism, and anarchy, and spreading corruption and nepotism—all of this is due to Congress.”
Adityanath also recounted a personal experience during his recent visit to Jammu and Kashmir for Assembly elections, noting the impact that the revocation of Article 370 has had on the region. “I was in Jammu and Kashmir for the last 2 days for the Assembly elections. It was raining there. So, I went straight inside the airport. When I went inside, a man said ‘Yogi Sahab Ram Ram’. After some time, I saw, he was a Maulvi. I was surprised to hear ‘Ram Ram’ from a Maulvi. This is the effect of abrogation of Article 370.”
Earlier, while addressing a public rally in Ramnagar ahead of the third phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Adityanath stressed that the Union Territory also deserves the development seen in Uttar Pradesh under the “double-engine government.”
Citing the example of UP, he said, “There has not been even a single riot in Uttar Pradesh in the last 7.5 years. All festivals are celebrated peacefully. And look at the development under the double-engine government—Jammu and Kashmir also has the right to that development like UP.”
Haryana is gearing up for polls on October 5, and the third and final phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir is scheduled for October 1. Counting for both elections will take place on October 8.