Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised his Maharashtra counterpart for apprehending suspected terrorists who were looking to disturb peace at the Kumbh Mela this year.
“If they had managed to cross into the U.P. border, we would have eliminated them then and there,” Mr. Adityanath said while addressing a gathering of migrants from north India at the U.P. Divas in the city on Thursday. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and U.P. Governor Ram Naik also attended the event.
Mr. Adityanath also lauded the efforts of the Prayagraj administration for making the Kumbh Mela a success. “So far, nearly 3.5 crore devotees have taken a dip in the holy waters of the city,” he said.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) had on Wednesday arrested eight people and detained a minor boy after raids in Mumbra and Aurangabad for alleged links to the Islamic State (IS). The police claimed the men were targeting the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj and Republic Day celebrations.
Mr. Adityanath said violence of all kinds had come down in the States ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including U.P. and Maharashtra. He said, “This is because the governments have retaliated in the right manner with such people in these States. We know how to retaliate against such people spreading violence. They must be dealt with sternly. We respond to violence mongers in the language they understand.”
The U.P. Chief Minister also targeted the Congress for being defensive on the Ram Mandir issue. He said, “The ASI has in its report confirmed the presence of a Ram temple at the controversial site. The world knows, but the Congress does not want to admit it.”
Mr. Fadnavis, who is also in-charge of the Home Department, said the attacks on north Indian migrants have reduced since his government came to power. He said, “Before we came into power, migrants from Uttar Pradesh were routinely bullied and targeted. During our tenure, such attacks stopped because we showed the bullies their place. The dream of one nation, one country is being fulfilled.”
‘Give credit to migrants’
The Chief Ministers mutually agreed that linguistic violence was not a mark of nationalism, and the country cannot be divided in the name of language. “Those dividing the country on lines of language are not true nationalists. Migrants from U.P. have also invested their blood and sweat in building Maharashtra and Mumbai,” Mr. Adityanath said.
