Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday claimed that there is a chaos among opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said the opposition remembers castes during polls while remaining inactive otherwise.
Adityanath made the remarks amid a growing demand by the opposition parties for a nationwide "caste census".
"During elections, the opposition remembers castes, while for the rest of the four years, they remain inactive. There is a chaos among the opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections," he said during his inaugural address at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Mela and the Virat Kisan Sangoshthi in Mathura.
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The chief minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ensuring that every section of society benefits from government schemes without discrimination.
"Today, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is scaling new heights with the spirit of Indianness," an official statement said quoting Adityanath.
Prime Minister Modi is giving utmost importance to villages, farmers, youths, and women to propel India towards the path of prosperity, and the results are there for everyone to see, he said.
"Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay dedicated his life for the farmers, the providers of food. He gave the slogan of 'work to every hand and water to every field'. The double engine government in UP is committed to take forward the resolve of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and is working in the same spirit," he said.
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Adityanath said that Prime Minister Modi was concerned about the health of 'Mother Earth'. "For this, after the formation of BJP government at the Centre, a provision for Soil Health Card was made in 2014. Also, farmers are being compensated for their crop losses through the Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme," he pointed out.
The chief minister said for the first time after Independence, farmers are being given one-and-a-half times their cost of produce through minimum support price (MSP).
"Under the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 6,000 are being given to 2.62 crore farmers of the state in three instalments," he said.
Adityanath said the prime minister is also promoting sports through programmes like 'Khelo India' and 'Fit India', adding that this is clearly reflected in the increased number of medals for India in this year's Asian Games.
Before inaugurating the fair, Adityanath visited the Village Industries Centre and interacted with women working there and inquired about their well-being.
He also inspected the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Mela and the exhibition after inaugurating it, and honoured four farmers engaged in natural and organic farming, the statement said.
During the event, Mathura MP Hema Malini was also present along with other senior BJP leaders and a large number of farmers from nearby districts, it added.
