Opposition remembers caste only during elections: CM Adityanath

Uttar Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday claimed there was chaos among the Opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said the opposition remembered castes during polls while remaining inactive otherwise. “Under Mission Rozgar, youths are being connected to government jobs and self-employment,” the CM said. He made the remarks amid a growing demand by Opposition parties for a nationwide caste census. The CM was addressing the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Mela and the Virat Kisan Sangoshthi organised at Deen Dayal Dham in Farah town of Mathura, considered the birthplace of Upadhayay.

“During elections, the Opposition remembers castes, while for the rest of the four years, they remain inactive. There is complete chaos among opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ensuring that every section of society benefits from government schemes without discrimination,” he remarked. “Through Skill Development Mission, tailored courses are being conducted to meet local needs. Under Mission Rozgar, youths are being connected to government jobs and self-employment. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is scaling new heights with the spirit of Indianness,” Adityanath added on the occasion of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s birth anniversary.

“Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay dedicated his life to farmers, the providers of food. He gave the slogan of ‘work to every hand and water to every field’. The double engine government is committed to taking forward the resolve of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and is working in the same spirit.” He emphasised that Prime Minister Modi was giving utmost importance to villages, farmers, youth, and women to propel India towards the path of prosperity, and the results were there for everyone to see.

The CM said Prime Minister Modi was concerned about the health of ‘Mother Earth’. “For this, after the formation of the BJP government at the Centre, a provision for a Soil Health Card was made in 2014. Farmers are being compensated for their crop losses through the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme,” he pointed out. “Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, additional irrigation facility has been provided to 22 lakh hectares of land in UP alone in six years. As soon as the double engine government was formed in the state, loans of up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers were waived off,” he informed.

The chief minister said for the first time after Independence, farmers were being given one-and-a-half times their cost of produce through minimum support price (MSP). “When farmers are prosperous, the country will prosper. Under the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 6,000 is being given to 2.62 crore lakh farmers of the state in three instalments,” he said.