New Delhi: Providing fresh ammunition to the opposition to attack the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday said the poor law and order situation in the state earlier was due to the people in “skull caps who threatened traders”.
“Before 2017, how many ‘lungi-clad’ goons used to roam here? Who in skull caps used to threaten the traders while carrying guns? Who used to encroach upon your land and threaten you to not go to police? Remember all this,” he said at the ‘Vyapari Sammelan’. in Prayagraj earlier on Friday.
Maurya also used the occasion to take potshots at the Samajwadi Party alleging former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav-led party shielded criminals during their rule in Uttar Pradesh.
“These criminals used to capture lands of businessmen and threaten them. The things that I am saying have all occurred,” he said.
Maurya’s remarks came days after he was accused of polarising the voters post his controversial statement made in a tweet earlier on Wednesday wherein he spoke about the construction of a grand temple in Mathura.
“A grand temple in Ayodhya and Kashi is under construction; preparations are on for Mathura,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Former chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had earlier on Thursday lashed out at the BJP over Maurya’s tweet stating it is the saffron party’s “last tactic” to ward off its imminent defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
“The statement given by UP Deputy CM Maurya ahead of the upcoming assembly elections that temple construction is going on in Ayodhya and Kashi and now there are preparations for Mathura reinforces the general perception of the BJP’s defeat. The people should beware of this last tactic that is Hindu-Muslim politics,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.