In an interview, Adityanath also denied any incidents of cow-related violence in UP since his government came to power.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath will complete six months in office a week from now.
In an interview with the Indian Express, he talked about the achievements of his government, the need for a change in the state’s education and allegations of corruption among others topics.
On “achievements of the BJP government” in UP
“We have attacked the roots of corruption. We are working for the welfare of farmers, youths in the same way as Modiji’s government is doing at the central level,” he told the Indian Express, adding that the BJP government is committed to farmers’ welfare. He claimed that his government has fixed a target of training ten lakh youth within a year.
When asked about how the local mafia flourishing in the state has made investment difficult, Yogi replied, “There has been no riot in UP in the last five months”. However, the Saharanpur caste clashes, in which at least one person died and several others were injured in May 2017 were seen as the Adityanath government’s first major law and order challenge and had reignited the debate on volatility of the region.
“We have stopped illegal mining, we have stopped illegal slaughter, we have constituted an anti-land grab task force”, he went on to say.
On education in the state
The UP government had faced allegations that its primary teachers hardly teach in schools and cater to local politicians and that more than 50% posts of teachers at the intermediate level are vacant.
“Around 50% teacher posts are vacant in intermediate education. We have around 10,000 surplus teachers at the primary level and we are going to adjust them in intermediate colleges. We are changing the syllabus with an eye on making students competitive at the All-India level,” he told the Indian Express.
Adityanath also said that the syllabi of primary, intermediate and, if necessary, at the higher education level as well, will be changed and that his government has already started working on it.
On RSS interference
“There is no interference in the administration. But with the Vichar Parivar (ideological family), we sit together time to time. They get ground-level feedback. We take it from them,” Adityanath said.
On corruption
The BJP had claimed in July to have put an end to corruption in official transfers and postings. However, the opposition party claimed that there were large scale revocations of transfers carried out by the BJP government within days.
The commercial tax department of UP is allegedly still releasing transfer lists of senior officers and the transfers are not being made public. When questioned about this lack of transparency, he replied, “That was delayed with my permission. We delayed it due to GST implementation. All transfers there are with my permission. Those are of people who were at one location for years. We have done it under a new transfer policy.”
On Gorakhpur hospital deaths
After the deaths of children at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, Adityanath had ordered criminal action against the doctors responsible. Adityanath told the Indian Express, “It was not a harsh step. First, the Gorakhpur incident was presented in the wrong way, with wrong facts. But it was clear from this incident that there were some people in the system who wanted to destroy it deliberately. Harsh action was needed against such people. This was a must to teach them a lesson”.
On cow protection and violence
Adityanath claimed that there has not been a single incident of cow protection violence since he took charge. However, there have been incidents involving Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), founded by Adityanath, whose main objective is cow protection. “It is a purely cultural organisation and a non-political one. They are advised to work for the development of society like in the fields of education, rural development, healthcare etc,” Adityanath said about the HYV.