Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of doing politics of religion and said this will continue until people start talking about development issues.
The Congress leader also claimed that it is only her party which is taking up development issues while others are playing the caste and religion cards, creating differences among the masses.
“The chief minister does not think he is answerable to people. At the election time, he gets away talking about religion,” Priyanka said at her party’s ‘Pratigya Rally’ in Moradabad.
“The politics of religion and caste will continue if people do not speak over matters concerning development,” she added.
“Till the time roads of villages, employment and health are not the most important questions, you will continue to remain entangled in this kind of politics.”
Stressing that her party wanted to contest the elections on the development plank, the Congress leader said, “The pledge taken by us is based on important issues of development and your day-to-day life. People need to talk about issues concerning them,” she said.
Referring to the recent withdrawal of agricultural laws by the Centre, she said the farmers’ stir is an example that even the government will have to “bow down” once people make up their mind and fight over issues affecting them.
“Farmers made a sacrifice. Over 700 farmers were martyred. The prime minister did not observe even a two-minute silence in memory of those 700 martyrs,” she said.
Recalling the Lakhimpur violence, in which eight people, including four farmers, were killed, she said, “In October, the son of a minister in the Narendra Modi government crushed farmers under the wheels of his Jeep. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have not said a word over it.”
Criticising the BJP-led government, she said PM Modi has “no money for the uplift of farmers and the poor” while he has spent Rs 8,000 crore on his plane and Rs 20,000 crore on the construction of a new Parliament building.
The Congress leader also regretted visiting Moradabad, her in-laws’ place, after a long time. She blamed the BJP government for turning Moradabad, famous for its brass work, into an “andher nagari”.
“The trade has been ruined and the livelihood of about two lakh artisans finished due to wrong policies of the BJP government in the form of demonetisation and the GST,” she said.