Advocates of infiltrators blocked women’s quota Bill: Yogi

TNN Lucknow: During election rallies in the poll-bound state of West Bengal, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday hit out at Opposition parties for voting against the Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment Bill, calling it an insult to women. Addressing rallies in Cooch Bihar and Jalpaiguri, Yogi said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a Bill in Parliament to provide 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, to be implemented by 2029, but Congress, Trinamool Congress, SP and Left parties did not allow it to pass. Trinamool Congress, the advocates of Bangladeshi infiltrators, did not allow the amendment Bill to pass. It is an insult to half the population of the country.” The UP CM targeted TMC over disorder in West Bengal, saying it was allowing Bangladeshi infiltrators to snatch the rights of local citizens, while common people were living in fear. He said TMC’s appeasement politics did not allow it to think beyond Muslims, and that Hindus in Bengal were scared to raise slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ due to fear of govt action and attacks by TMC workers. “There are disturbances before festivals like Durga Puja and permissions are denied. This was the situation in UP before 2017, when there were frequent riots and curfews, but now the situation has improved. Prayers are no longer offered on roads and the sound of Azaan is limited to mosques. Before 2017, religious events were restricted, but now both Kawad Yatra and Durga Puja are conducted peacefully,” he said. Comparing West Bengal’s situation to UP, Yogi Adityanath said that under TMC, farmers were not getting fair prices and were being forced to migrate. Against a price of Rs 15-20 per kg for potatoes in UP, in Bengal the price was Rs 1-1.5. In the past 15 years under the TMC government, he added, more than 7,000 large factories had closed down and 30 lakh people were unemployed, while in UP, 3 crore youth were provided employment. “Mamata Banerjee opposes Hindus and slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. She also opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides citizenship rights to persecuted communities such as Hindus, Jains and Sikhs from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh. Recently in UP, 1,056 families were given land rights and citizenship. The BJP govt stands firmly for the protection of Hindus globally,” the CM said. He added that after May 4, when the results will be announced, those issuing threats would be forced to bow before the people. He also said this was the 150th anniversary year of ‘Vande Mataram’ and called upon people to restore Bengal’s glory through a double-engine BJP govt.