Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday claimed that gangsters, who used to terrorise people with extortion threats and abduct them without caring for law and order, were now wetting their pants after their sentencing by courts.
Addressing a gathering after the 'bhoomi pujan' of a bottling plant here, Adityanath said people are seeing that those who showed little respect for law and order earlier were now running for their lives.
"When the court sentences them, their wet pants are becoming visible. People are seeing it. The mafia used to terrorise people, send extortion threats to industrialists, abduct businessmen. But today they are scared out of their wits and running for their lives," the chief minister said.
His remarks have come days after an MP/MLA court held gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad and two others guilty in the 2006 Umesh Pal kidnapping case and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
That was Ahmad's first conviction even though more than 100 cases have been registered against him.
The 60-year-old former Samajwadi Party MP was brought from Sabarmati Jail in Gujarat by road for hearing in the case in Prayagraj.
Before leaving the jail in a police cavalcade, Ahmad said he feared he might be killed.
"Hatya, hatya (murder, murder)," Ahmad said outside the prison.
During the long journey, Ahmad's vehicle was stopped in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh to allow him to attend nature's call.
There, he was asked by reporters whether he was afraid, to which he said, 'Kahe ka dar' (what fear).
The Uttar Pradesh administration began cracking down on his aides and gang members after the killing of Umesh Pal, a witness in the murder of BSP legislator Raju Pal in January 2005, in broad daylight in Prayagraj.
After the brazen criminal act, Adityanath had vowed in the state assembly that he will destroy the mafia.
In his address on Saturday, the chief minister said everyone's safety is the responsibility of the government and it is the government's resolve to bring prosperity in the lives of the citizens.
According to a press statement issued by the state government, the chief minister said that six years ago goons and mafia used to openly threaten businessmen and kidnap them and the state was known for riots and anarchy, but today, all such elements have been silenced.
"This year, when riots were taking place in some states of the country during Ram Navami celebrations, there was absolute peace in Uttar Pradesh. Thirty-three lakh people visited Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram, and more than 1,000 processions were taken out on the occasion, but no untoward incident took place. Instead, Hindus and Muslims showered flowers on the processions," he said.
On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on April 6, more than 500 processions were taken out peacefully in the state.
The chief minister said that in Uttar Pradesh, bombs are no longer hurled at processions during religious festivals, and it has been replaced with showering of flowers.
Adityanath said that 25 crore people of Uttar Pradesh today believe in the double engine government which promotes development, investment and employment.
He added that it is because of this belief that Uttar Pradesh has received investment proposals worth Rs 35 lakh crore in the Global Investors Summit.
The Chief Minister's Office itself monitors all the online facilities and incentives for the investors, he said.
Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh today boasts of excellent connectivity of all kinds.
"Purvanchal and Bundelkhand Expressways have opened while the work is underway on Ganga Expressway. By the time this (bottling) plant is ready, the Gorakhpur Link Expressway will also be completed," he said.
"Four-lane connectivity has been provided till Nepal, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Till 2017 only two airports were fully functional and two partially functional in the state and today nine airports are functional whereas the work is underway on 12 airports.
"UP will soon become a state with five international airports. The work on metro and ropeway is underway on a war footing," he said.
