UP Polls: Amit Shah, Yogi Visit Azamgarh; Slam Akhilesh, Suggest a Renaming

After having recently set a target of over 300 seats in the UP polls, Shah is on a two-day visit to the state.

File photo of Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah.

(Photo: PTI)

Ahead of Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP), on Saturday, 13 November, Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath visited Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘turf’ Azamgarh.

On arriving there not only did they unleash a slew of attacks at Yadav himself, but also suggested changing the name of Azamgarh to Aryamgarh.

Further, speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of a state university in Azamgarh, CM Adityanath, according to ANI, said: "This university will truly turn Azamgarh into Aryamgarh."

According to NDTV, endorsing Adityanath as his party’s CM candidate, Home Minister Shah, who's also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, said:

"I have said earlier that we never get enough Vidhan Sabha seats in Azamgarh ... but ab bahut ho gaya (that's enough). I am asking you to give all Vidhan Sabha seats in Azamgarh to the BJP so that Yogi Adityanath can be made Chief Minister again.”

Further, referring to an older comment by Yadav in which he had named Sardar Patel, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the same breath, Shah alleged that “Jinnah holds special relevance for Akhilesh.”

Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of doing politics of 'destruction not development', reported ANI:

"It (BJP) has deceived the people... If anyone is defaming Azamgarh, it's BJP...The way they (BJP) killed a trader, it brought bad name to the the district. He (CM) had cases against him, he withdrew them."

Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav

'Love Hindi More Than Gujarati': Amit Shah in Varanasi

Earlier, on Saturday, Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah inaugurated the first Akhil Bhartiya Rajbhasha Sammelan at Deendayal Hastkala Sankul in Varanasi and batted for the promotion of Hindi to ‘Rajbhasha’. Shah, according to DD News, said:

“I love Hindi language more than Gujarati. We need to strengthen our Rajbhasha.”

Further, Shah reportedly claimed that regional languages can only be strengthened when Hindi becomes rich and prosperous.

Crediting Kashi – as Varanasi is still referred to by many – with the birth of Hindi, the home minister claimed that the first Hindi dictionary was made in ‘Banaras’ (Varanasi).

What Was Day 1 of Amit Shah's Varanasi Trip Like?

Shah arrived in Uttar Pradesh on Friday and chaired a meeting with multiple party leaders in Varanasi to brainstorm election strategies.

The Indian Express quoted a party leader who attended Friday’s meeting as claiming that Shah told the gathering that even if the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) come together, they would not be able to defeat the BJP. A party leader also told the daily that they “have been asked to register 100 new members at each booth, and connect with first-time voters as well.”

BJP state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh reportedly stated that the home minister asked the attendees of the meeting to pledge that “booth jeeta, toh UP jeeta (if the booth is won, UP is won)”.

After having recently set a target of over 300 seats in the 2022 UP Assembly polls, Shah is on a two-day visit to the state. He landed in Varanasi on Friday evening, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(With inputs from NDTV, ANI DD News, All India Radio News and The Indian Express.)