Adityanath revives Narendra Modi’s 'kabristan' campaign

The CM said that unlike his predecessors his govt was renovating and beautifying temples, walking a communal path shown by the Prime Minister

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath with artistes dressed up as Lord Ram, Sita and Lakhsman during Diwali-eve festivities in in Ayodhya on Wednesday.: Naeem Ansari

Piyush Srivastava   |   TT  |  Lucknow   |   04.11.21: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath claimed on Wednesday that while his predecessor had spent public money on kabristans (graveyards), his government was renovating and beautifying temples, walking a communal path shown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The previous government used public money to build boundary walls of kabristans in Uttar Pradesh. The present government is renovating and beautifying temples in the state,” Adityanath, the BJP’s Hindutva mascot, said in Ayodhya on the eve of Diwali after welcoming some actors in the attires of Lord Ram, Sita and Lakshman.

“This is the basic difference in the thinking of the two,” Adityanath added.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had run the previous government in Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017.

The Samajwadis’ core voters are believed to be Yadavs and Muslims. Akhilesh is being seen as the foremost challenger of the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year.

Adityanath claimed that the central and Uttar Pradesh governments had decided to either beautify or renovate 500 Hindu shrines by 2027 and that work had been completed at 300 temples.

The communal campaign invoked by Adityanath had paid the BJP rich dividends in the 2017 Assembly elections. Prime Minister Modi had told a campaign rally in Fatehpur on February 19 that year: “If a kabristan is built in a village, a smashan (cremation ground) should also be constructed there.”

The BJP had claimed that Akhilesh as chief minister had worked for Muslims and against Hindus.

However, the narrative acquired a ring of macabre irony when cremation grounds overflowed with the dead in Uttar Pradesh during the second wave of the pandemic earlier this year. As the queues lengthened outside the cremation grounds, bereaved relatives alleged mismanagement and demand for bribes from staff. Thousands of bodies were either dumped on the banks of the Ganga or immersed in the river water.

On Wednesday, Adityanath said that nine lakh diyas had been lit in Ayodhya on the eve of Diwali.

The chief minister announced that his government would continue the distribution of free food grains among the poor till Holi in March next year. This scheme was started during the pandemic last year.