Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the House. Vishal Srivastav
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who watched the Assembly proceedings quietly while opposition members referred to him as “Yogi baba” in the House on Thursday, later condemned the latter’s behaviour as “unparliamentary, unconstitutional and condemnable”. Specifically targeting the Samajwadi Party after proceedings were adjourned, he said its members had used “indecent language” despite the presence of its senior leaders of SP, indirectly pointing towards former Chief Minister and MLC Akhilesh Yadav, who was in the House during Governor Ram Naik’s address to a joint sitting of the Assembly and Legislative Council.
“The parliamentary decorum was shattered today as paper balls and balloons were thrown at the Governor. The way SP members used indecent language in the presence of their leaders is an unparliamentary, unconstitutional and condemnable act,” the chief minister told the media outside the House. “The behaviour of SP leaders shows they want to indulge in arajakta (anarchy) inside the House, the way they had done it across the state earlier,” he added. Further attacking the SP, Adityanath said its leaders should “improve their behaviour, otherwise the public could snatch their red caps. “Apne aacharan ko sudharein… yeh jo laal topi hai, woh janta na chheen le,” he warned.
His remarks drew the SP’s ire. “What is un-parliamentary is that the Governor’s address began after a delay of about 15 minutes, which is why opposition members were shouting “go back”. It is strange and ironic that a few days ago, the Governor himself had called incidents like the Kansganj violence a “blot”, while today, he spoke about the achievements of the government on law and order among other things,” said Leader of Opposition and SP member Ram Govind Chaudhary.
He further said, “Laal topi desh ki azadi ki nishani hai. Bhagwa jhande wale, jinhone angrezon ki madad ki, aaj deshpremi ban rahe hain (the red cap that the chief minister referred to is a symbol of the independence of this country, those holding bhagwa flags, who had once helped the British, are now claiming to be patriots).” Chaudhary also alleged that the government had not only tried to interfere with the Muslim religion, but also with Hinduism and “sanatan dharma”. He said while the government changed the name of the “Ardha Kumbh” to “Kumbh”, the chief minister had gone to mark “Deepawali” in Ayodhya on “Narak Chaturthi”, the eve of the festival.
Referring to the recent violence in Kasganj, Chaudhary said that the Opposition was forced to protest as the government was taking “one-sided action”. “People of the Muslim community were peacefully celebrating January 26 (Republic Day), when those associated with groups linked to BJP intervened. Now, one-sided action is being taken and there is no action against who created the disturbance or actually fired the gunshot,” said Chaudhary.