Amit Shah says next five years will be devoted to making Uttar Pradesh the number one economy in India

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the next five years would be devoted to restoring the glory of Uttar Pradesh and making it the number one economy in India.

He also said Uttar Pradesh faced political instability for a long time in the past due to “casteist and dynastic parties”

But the BJP did not seek anyone’s caste or religion before providing them with benefits of government schemes, he asserted.

Amit Shah was addressing newly elected BJP MLAs and others after Yogi Adityanath was elected the leader of the BJP legislative party in the state on Thursday, a day before the swearing-in.

“Our job must be to build on this grand win. Next five years are to restore UP’s glory and to make it the country’s number one economy. The journey of change, of development, of further strengthening security and of building a rosy future starts from here. The journey of fulfilling people’s aspirations, too, begins from here,” Amit Shah said.

Without UP’s development, the country’s development isn’t possible, Amit Shah emphasised.

“We have to ensure that investment continues to flow in. This investment would lead to revenue and this would, in turn, help in pro-poor schemes. In five years, we have made UP’s economy move from the 9th spot to the second and now we have to make it number one. Herculean work has been done in the BJP government from 2017-2022 and now we have to take it ahead,” he said.

Giving credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the party victory, Shah said, “Our cadres had their clothes soiled but they worked relentlessly. But the one worker who worked tirelessly, relentlessly, was Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

He added the BJP’s victory in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in UP since 2014 established that people favoured “politics of performance.”

“Now, that Yogi Adityanath has been elected as leader, we must aim to end dynastic rule, casteism and appeasement as people have clearly shown that they believe in politics of performance,” he said.

Amit Shah said Yogi Adityanath helped translate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” into reality.

“In the past 37 years, no party got full majority again in Uttar Pradesh. It is historic that the BJP is the only party, which got over two-third seats for the second consecutive time,” Shah said referring to the just-concluded assembly polls.

“No chief minister could get people’s support and become CM again. But the people of the state elected Yogi again for the second time,” he said.

“We may have elected Yogi Adityanathji as the leader of the BJP legislative party today, but at the beginning of the campaign itself Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that we would be forming the government in Uttar Pradesh with Yogi Adityanath as chief minister,” the home minister said.

Shah contrasted the law and order situation under non-BJP governments with the one under the Yogi regime.

“Criminals and mafia called the shots and controlled the police and the administration. Yogi Adityanath government forced these elements to do ‘sheershasana’ (a Yogic posture in which a person turns upside down),” the home minister said.

Even a small girl got confidence, he said, adding that poor got hope that if they approached the police, their complaint would be registered.

Underlining the importance of the party, Amit Shah said, “I want to tell all lawmakers that we all think that we have won because we are popular. I, too, am an elected lawmaker, five-time MLA, one term as RS MP, one as Lok Sabha MP. I keep telling all that the party is above all. Party policies shape the narrative for the party. The government programmes make leadership popular.”