Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the magic of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ will work across the country. “Jai Shri Ram Uttar Pradesh mein bhi chalega, Bengal mein bhi chalega, aur poore desh mein bhi chalega (Jai Shri Ram will work in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and all over India),” the Chief Minister said while speaking at a conclave organised by a news channel.

“Remember the beginning of 1990s decade when some people were opposing the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan even in Uttar Pradesh. Today, the country and the world is seeing where they stand. And this is not a new thing. It has been there since the time of Ramayana. Those who are against Ram do not get a place anywhere. May God bless them with good sense that, at least, they do not ban the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan,” he said.

The Chief Minister further said, “The people of India will not accept this. The people of Bengal have made up their minds that those who are with Lord Ram, they will be with them.”

Commenting on Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s north-south remark that he had made in Kerala, Yogi Adityanath said, “This is called ‘ehsaan faramoshi’ (ungratefulness). This divisive thought has become the reality of Congress. If these people did not exist, then why would Congress die? This kind of comments will only destroy Congress,” he said and added, “Next he will go elsewhere and badmouth the people of Kerala.”

Gandhi, a former Amethi MP, while addressing a rally in Kerala recently had claimed that the people he represented in Parliament earlier did not have a deeper understanding of things the way people of his current constituency do.

Speaking on the promises made in the budget, Yogi Adityanath said that over last four years, his government has focused on agriculture and MSME.

“We put these two sectors on global level which has helped. We also managed to increase income. Under VAT, the income generated was approximately Rs 49,000 crore. We increase this to Rs 1,00,000 crore. This increase of income is being used for development of the state,” he said.

He added that all the leakages of income have been plugged. “We stopped filling of pockets of politicians and this has increased the income of state treasury,” he said.

Talking about the reforms his government brought in, Yogi Adityanath said, “Every good work gets opposed. If people are opposing it then that means you are doing something right. We had the aim that we want to change the face of Uttar Pradesh, change people’s perception towards it. We wanted to change the prejudice against people of thsi state.”

He further said, “In the past four years, we have worked on zero tolerance policy in Uttar Pradesh. In four years, not a single riot took place in state. The kidnapping has been almost zero. If you ignore personal rivalries, the organised crime has been minimal. We can with a lot of pride say that Uttar Pradesh law and order is best in the country. This has increased confidence of women and businessmen.”