Targeting the Samajwadi Party in a veiled manner, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said that "people who fired bullets at the devotees of Lord Ram and tried to shake the faith of the believers of Ayodhya sanctity are questioning us."
"In Democracy, everyone has a right to speak but with constitutional decorum. Paper shells were thrown in the house. People who fired bullets at the devotees of Lord Ram and who tried to shake the believers of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, are questioning us on the action taken by our government against the vandals," the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said while speaking in the Assembly.
Adityanath was referring to the anti-CAA protesters who damaged the public property during the protests against Citizenship Act.
While attacking the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath was referring to the incident when police received orders from then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to open fire at the karsevaks marching towards Ayodhya in 1990. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief put the death toll at 28 in the police firing at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990.
Meanwhile, the Adityanath administration has also set up a 4-member panel to assess the damage to public properties to recover the losses by seizing the properties of those involved in the vandalism.
"People who fired bullets on Ram devotees were wrong. This was not right. Ram Rajya is not a religious work. Its' definition is clear. We have associated religion with responsibility and not every person can understand this, " he added.
The statement from the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was in response to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's criticism on his government on various issues including education and removal of the NSG cover. While addressing a press conference at the Samajwadi Party office in Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday had stated, "Why did the government withdraw only the NSG cover? It is free to take back my present security the way my bungalow has been taken."
"I will ride the cycle and in future cycling will be very important for us. It is our party symbol. Recently a local intelligence unit (LIU) inspector came to the party office during a party event. A youth who has affiliations with the BJP also interrupted my event in Kannauj," Akhilesh Yadav had said.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath further stated that his government has not done any injustice with the students on the basis of caste and claimed, " We have announced a scholarship for 26 lakh students of the state. But during SP and BSP rule, Dalit students blocked the scholarship of the children belong to backward classes."
( With inputs from ANI )