The 2017 assembly elections in UP was a significant game changer. The people of Uttar Pradesh sidelined all those political parties who were supporting the goons and elected the BJP with an overwhelming majority. After the election, the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister came as a surprise to most political observers. Since the advent of the Yogi Government, criminals are running from pillar to post to save their lives. When the evil men from the society are eliminated, it’s the common people who have the sigh of relief. As Albert Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it”.
From constituting anti-romeo squads to keeping a check on the nefarious criminal activities, CM Yogi Adityanath has done it all. He stated that there would be no place for ‘goonda raj’ and corruption under his rule. Enforcement has been the Yogi government’s strong pillar. CM Yogi has adopted a smooth system of division of labour at the grassroot level wherein local representatives, MLAs and MPs are present to validate, question and be questioned. Yogi exhorted MLAs to hold sarpanchs responsible, and if there was a hint of misappropriation of funds then lodge a FIR. This was not just limited to police action but included the broader rule of law. Strong action was initiated against criminal gangs.
It has barely been 2 years since his governance and already UP is seeing unprecedented developments. Yogi Adityanath government recorded more than 3,000 encounters in which at least 78 criminals were gunned down. Moreover, around 7,043 criminals were arrested. In the same period, 11,981 criminals had their bail canceled and surrendered in courts. Such was the impressiveness of these statistics, the figure of encounters, the killing of criminals, and arrests had made it to a list of government achievements publicised on Republic Day in the state.
The Yogi Government in its relentless pursuit to make UP a crime free state has also passed UPCOCA bill which is designed to take down the mafia and other criminal activities within the state. From a minimum sentence of three years, UPCOCA will endorse even capital punishments. Such was the Yogi government’s crackdown of the crimality in the UP, anxious criminals hiding in foreign countries had started giving death threats to MLAs of Yogi Government. These calls had been from the lackeys of Dawood Ibrahim.
All these efforts of the government are now bearing fruits in the run of the elections. For the first time in four decades, criminals are taking a backseat in the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said: “It is mainly due to the iron hand of the Yogi government that criminals have gone back into their shell. If they were earlier active in politics, it was because the then governments were encouraging them.”
Mafia dons such as, Hari Shankar Tiwari, Mukhtar Ansari and Brijesh Singh have themselves maintained a low profile and are not even fielding any relative in the elections. Moreover, Mafia dons such as Dhananjay Singh, Afzal Ansari, Ateeq Ahmad and Raja Bhaiyya have been rendered powerless and neither the public nor the parties are keen to field them.
Due to the efforts by the CM Yogi, UP for the first time in years will witness clean elections. Though parties are still fielding candidates with small criminal records, the major mafia dons are being completely outcasted. The “gunda raj” in UP that Yogi promised to remove, will finally cease to exist.