Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said people have seen a "changing India" under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and added that there is a "huge difference" between the India before 2014 and the India of 2024.
CM Adityanath said that before 2014, there was "mistrust and identity crisis" but now the world looks at India with respect. Wherever Prime Minister Modi goes in the world, the entire country comes out to welcome him, he said.
Addressing a rally in support of BJP candidate from Ghazipur Parasnath Rai, in which Prime Minister Modi was also present, Adityanath appealed to people to include Ghazipur too in 'iss baar 400-paar'.
Adityanath said that all the parties of the INDIA bloc, including the Congress, SP, and RJD are scared because they never dreamt of fighting on 400 seats. Whereas the BJP is moving towards achieving this goal due to the contributions made to the country under the leadership of PM Modi with people's blessings.
The UP chief minister said there was a time when women and businessmen were not safe.
"Be it Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Mau or the surrounding districts, we lived under the shadow of fear and terror. When the BJP got your blessings, Ram Lalla was installed in Ayodhya and mafia were eliminated," he said.
Taking a jibe at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Adityanath said, "The disastrous pair has come up once again. Whenever the SP and the Congress have formed an alliance, disaster has happened.
"When there was an SP government in the state and the Congress government at the Centre, there were terrorist attacks on the Sankat Mochan Temple in Kashi and at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. The courts of Lucknow, Varanasi and Ayodhya were attacked." When the SP government, which opened fire on Ram devotees, was again formed in the state and the Congress government at the Centre, an attempt was made to withdraw the cases against terrorists, he said.
The UP chief minister also said that Ram Lalla has been seated in Ayodhya after 500 years, adding that the SP, BSP and Congress could not have done this work.
PM Modi is necessary for self-reliant and developed India, while on the other hand, SP-Congress and the INDIA bloc wants to rule on the principle of divide and rule, Adityanath said, and alleged that they first divided the country, then divided it in the name of region and language and are now making various castes fight against each other.
People of their ally the Trinamool Congress are threatening the saints of the Ramakrishna Mission and Bharat Sevashram Sangha in West Bengal, he said.
In Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat, there are 10 candidates in the fray, with the main electoral contest between Afzal Ansari of the Samajwadi Party and Paras Nath Rai of the BJP.
Voting in the constituency will take place in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections in on June 1.