Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today slammed the Left government in Kerala over ‘political killings’ of BJP-RSS workers in the state and said that there was no scope for political violence in a democracy.
"There is no scope for political violence in a democracy but unfortunately Kerala, God's own land, is witnessing politically sponsored violence," the UP CM, who marched here to voice his protest against the killing of opposition workers, said. He was joined by Kerala BJP unit president Kummanam Rajashekharan in the march.
He also took the opportunity to accuse the Left-led Kerala government of not taking adequate steps to check a ‘dangerous trend’ like 'love jihad'.
"Love jihad is a dangerous trend. The Kerala government has not taken effective steps to check it. The Supreme Court has already passed an order on it and the NIA is investigating it," Adityanath, who was responding to a question on a case in the Supreme Court involving marriage of a Muslim man with a Hindu woman who had converted to Islam before tying the nuptial knot, said.
The apex court had on August 16 directed the NIA to probe whether there was a wider pattern of 'love jihad' in the matter. The couple belong to Kerala. Several Hindutva groups have alleged a conspiracy behind cases of marriage between Muslim men and Hindu women, and have termed the trend as 'love jihad'.
With this yatra, Yogi said, the BJP will make people aware about the misrule of the CPI(M). “People are also coming out in huge numbers in support of this. With this 'yatra', we will make people aware about the CPI(M)'s misrule," he added.
Adityanath also said that it is the Left's nature to grab power at gunpoint. He claimed that the God's own country, a reference to Kerala, has been witnessing political violence sponsored by the ruling party.
Yogi’s march was a part of BJP’s 15-day long 'Jan Raksha Yatra' (people's protection march) which was launched by party chief Amit Shah on Tuesday from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's home town in Kannur district. The yatra (people's protection march) will travel through the state before culminating in Thiruvananthapuram on October 17. Several Union ministers will also participate in the march under the theme of 'All have to live! Against Jihadi-Red Terror'.
As many as 120 BJP workers, 84 in Kannur alone, have been killed in the state since 2001 with 14 of them in the Chief Minister's home town since he took over the reins last year. Amit Shah, who is on a three-day visit to the state, will take part in the rally in Kannur on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the ruling CPI(M) hit back at the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, asking him to visit the state government-run hospitals to learn how the CPI-M-led government there provides health services.
"Yogi Adityanath is in Kerala. Our advice to him is that he should first take care of Uttar Pradesh. But since he is there he should also visit the government hospitals to learn how health services should be provided and should also see how quality education is imparted in government schools," party leader Sitaram Yechury said this while referring to the deaths of scores of children in a Gorakhpur hospital in August.
Replying to this, Yogi claimed that Uttar Pradesh effectively dealt with the threat of dengue and chikungunya while over 300 people have died of dengue in Kerala. The death of a large number of children in government hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, especially in Gorakhpur, recently had prompted opposition parties to raise questions on the quality of health services in the northern state.
"While Uttar Pardesh effectively checked the menace of dengue and chikungunya, the Left party and its government have failed in providing basic necessities to people in the state," the CM said.
