Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, addressed a press conference on Tuesday to list the achievements of his government upon the completion of two years in power. Expressing gratitude towards Prime Minister Modi and party President Amit Shah, he emphasized on improving the law and order situation in the state as his stand-out achievement.

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While Yogi held the Congress party responsible for turning Uttar Pradesh into a ‘Bimaru’ state, he accused the SP and BSP of corruption and lawlessness and perpetuating the misery of farmers in the state during their regimes.

Targeting the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, Yogi said that during the years of their rule, there was a rampant crime in the state. There was an endless series of corruption as well. He also said that farmers were left under no choice but either to flee or commit suicide under erstwhile regimes. “Gundaraj and Corruption were at their peak,” he said.

Yogi stated further, “In the 24 months of our government, the image of Uttar Pradesh that people had across the country, the taint of corruption and lawlessness that afflicted the state, we have succeeded in ridding the state of that.” People who had fled from places like Kairana due to the prevailing lawlessness after selling their properties at dismal prices have returned to their homes during the tenure of his government, he said.

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The Chief Minister also said that as part of his government’s crackdown on criminals, about 8000 have been arrested in encounters with the Police, over 1000 have been injured, 73 have been killed, about 12000 criminals have surrendered before the police and sadly, in the process, over half a dozen law enforcement members lost their lives.

Earlier, in an interview to The Hindu to mark the completion of 2 years of his government, he justified the renaming of cities under his watch. He said, “If Bombay can become Mumbai, Bangalore can become Bengaluru, Madras can become Chennai, and Calcutta can become Kolkata, there is no reason why Allahabad should not become Prayagraj and Faizabad should not become Ayodhya. To re-establish our original identity, we have renamed these places. I am happy that people have welcomed this.”

When prodded that the names of other cities do not have religious connotations, Yogi replied, “That is not the case. Mumbai is from Mumba Devi Mandir. You are from Kerala. How did Trivandrum become Thiruvananthapuram? It is after Bhagwan Vishnu. We are only restoring our heritage.”