Rampur heritage destroyed by SP is being restored: CM Yogi Adityanath

LUCKNOW: In an attempt to reach out to the minorities ahead of Rampur assembly bypoll, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said that his government is taking steps to give an identity to the 200-year-old madrassa which was shut down and from where manuscripts were stolen during the tenure of previous Samajwadi Party government.
Yogi was referring to Rampur’s Alia Madrassa which was converted into a public school while many of its books were allegedly stolen, and later recovered from the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University headed by SP leader Azam Khan.
“Schools and madrassas are medium of education. Rampur’s cultural heritage and its manuscripts were destroyed. They are being preserved by our government...Rampur would no longer be in the hands of those who tried to destroy its heritage,” Yogi said, while speaking at a public rally in Rampur in support of party nominee Akash Saxena.
Yogi claimed that attempts were made to “capture” a school where Mahatma Gandhi used to stay. He said that under the previous SP government, “a national intermediate college in Rampur was seized by opportunist SP leaders”.
Without taking any names, Yogi said that an SP leader was complaining that he was being subjected to injustice. “He is making false claims. An individual is being held accountable for his misdeeds. It is inappropriate to hold the government and the party responsible for the decision which is taken by court,” he said, adding that the leader should “take good care of himself”.
Azam was in jail for almost two years since February 2020 in connection with criminal cases lodged against him. He has not been keeping well. In October, he lost his UP assembly membership following his conviction in a hate speech case. “As a minister, he should have shown interest in progress and taken the responsibility of protecting establishments instead of grabbing them. Foul language always causes misery. They used derogatory terms for sisters, daughters and even the institutions under the Constitution,” Yogi said.
“When SP loses an election, it first blames the Election Commission, then the EVMs, government, and police officers. Had he apologized to the people, he would have gotten mercy. It takes time to change someone’s bad habits...everyone improves with time,” he said.