In his first-ever interview to Panchjanya/ Organiser, Yogi Adityanath, who took charge of Uttar Pradesh as Chief Minister, spoke to Hitesh Shankar and Ashwani Mishra, about the mandate, priorites and his vision of governance
How do you take the overwhelming mandate in favour of the BJP in the recent Assembly elections ?
Where did the BJP stand in 2012, everybody knows it. But 2014 saw a big change. All strata of people, be they the youth, farmers or the poor, in UP or in the country, saw a new hope and promise in Narendra Modi. There was a new upsurge in the country. The challenge was how could we channelise that upsurge in our favour in UP, so the BJP appointed Amit Shah for the task. For the first time the party in-charge and the party general secretary could establish dialogue with the grass root level workers. This resulted in the BJP”s victory at 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. We won in adverse circumstances. We were confident that this performance would be repeated in 2017 elections. Under the leadership of Sh Narendra Modi, all schemes promised in the pre-poll run-up, were implemented sincerely. This had happened for the first time after Independence in the state. It was accompanied by enthusiastic
participation of the party workers, hence this result in the Assembly elections.
But there is a lot of hue and cry over your taking over as the chief minister. Many newspapers in India and abroad made critical remarks about it. How do you take it ?
See, all those who do not like to see India’s growth and progress, those who do not like the downtrodden to get benefited, would
surely make adverse observations. The overwhelming mandate binds us to a new responsibility. It”s natural that the UP government would follow the policies and programmes initiated by Sh Narendra Modi ji which would benifit all sections of the society.
How do you view media”s keen
observation on every work that you do or every decision that you take ?
Many misconceptions are created about me. Many people say I am saffron-clad, so there are many in the country who are averse to saffron. In fact, all those people who had been insulting the tradition and culture of the country in the name of secularism and
appeasement, and have been threatening the security of the country, are feeling threatened now. It is natural they would make adverse observations. But we don’t care about it. Our work will speak for us. We will win hearts of all sections of people with our style of
working. We would be spread a new idiom of
happiness and prosperity.
What would be your priorities in the governance ?
I have told my entire cabinet to take a good look at what all has happened in the last 15 years. For us the power is not for fun and frolic. We are not in politics to run after prestigious positions and posts. Maharshi Aurbindo had said a very significant thing that in the present times our main dharma is “rasthriya dharma”. So protection of Rashtra would be the main dhrama of ours. This is the focal point of humanity. In UP we would provide corruption-free administration and rid the society of goonda raj. We have started making plans for this and you would see their impact in the next two months. We would have a new industrial policy in place to check emigration of people from the state I am happy to note that soon after we discussed it in the Cabinet, many industrialists started
calling us. We would invite new investors in the state and provide them security. We would start single-window system and would make sure that 90 per cent of the employees in any industrial unit are from the state.
Sugarcane growers have been facing an acute crisis due to manipulations by the sugar mill owners. Will the new industrial policy help salvage their plight ?
We have new plans for the sugar mill industry. We are going to lay foundation stone of five or six new sugar mills in the next six months. The sugarcane season is on and the government has already instructed that farmers should get their remunerations within 14 days.
Your crackdown on meat-sellers has disturbed the already set-up system ?
I am doing nothing on my own. The National Green Tribunal in 2015 and the Supreme Court in 2017 have given many adverse observations on illegal butcher houses in the state and gave certain
directions to the state. We have just followed those instructions. You cannot call illegal as legal. There are clear instructions that those who have license and is in accordance with the norms would not be disturbed at all. No legal operator would be harassed, I can promise you that. Moreover, nobody can be allowed to play with the health of the people of the state.
How do you intend to fight corruption in the government? Have you prepared any plan or programme for that ?
We have told all the principal secretaries and secretaries that we want a corruption-free administration and we would like to use their experience for it. I have told the officers to make UP roads free from potholes by June 15 and for this a massive campaign would be undertaken for the first time in the state.
Shri Ramjanmbhoomi matter is again back for dialogue. How do you see it ?
I welcome the observations made by the Supreme Court. As the government is not party to it, so the two parties in contention should have a dialogue and resolve the matter. If any help of the state government is needed, we are ready to provide that. The Supreme Court verdict delivered on September 30, 2010, is very explicit on it. We would request both the sides to re-establish dialogue and resolve the matter.
There were hundreds of communal riots in the state. Was it due to administrative laxity or some other reason ?
It was because of the attitude of the last Government. The government was in wrong hands. When the government protects those indulging in communal riots, and would honour them as well, it is obvious that they would feel emboldened. We have told the
officers that criminals should be dealt with sternly. There should be no discrimination. If there is any complaint on that count, we would fix the responsibility.
What would be your “Yogi mantra” for the
administration ?
We have to give good governance. We would provide
corruption-free, and gooda raj free society. In this direction whatever the Modi government is doing in the Centre is important for us.
