Exclusive Interview Yogi Adityanath- 'Encounters Are Not The Policy Of This Government'

One year in office has made Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, known for his provocative statements, more circumspect in his views. In an hour-long interview with Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa, India Today Hindi Editor Anshuman Tiwari and Lucknow correspondent Ashish Misra, the yogi spoke on a range of topics. But while he remained firm in his views on controversial issues, he was careful about criticising his opponents. Excerpts from the interview

- Raj Chengappa

Q. Your critics accuse you of neglecting your state and campaigning in Karnataka instead. They also say you spend more time in Gorakhpur than in Lucknow.

In the past 15 years, none of the three chief ministers would have toured the state as much as I have done in just one year or be present in the chief minister’s office as much as I have been. We have rapidly implemented major schemes. No houses had been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana between 2014 and 2017. We have provided 8.85 lakh houses to the poor. Consequently, Uttar Pradesh is now the number one state in implementing the public housing scheme. Under the prime minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, about 40 lakh individual toilets have been built for the poor in the state. Electricity has been provided to 56,000 villages and towns. Even after so many years of independence, 32 lakh houses did not have electricity connections. More than 1.2 lakh kilometres of roads were made free of potholes.

Q. If your government is doing so well, why did the BJP lose the Lok Sabha byelections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur?

The electoral defeat in Gorakhpur is a lesson for us. It was definitely the result of overconfidence in the party. Every worker was convinced that we would win the seat. But the scenario was different in Gorakhpur when I reached there just before the polls. The campaign work that should have been completed had not been done. Unfortunately, our candidate also fell ill at the time. The lesson we learnt is that even the smallest of things should not be taken lightly; every setback is a lesson for the future.

Q. Don’t you find it alarming that the party has lost two high-profile parliamentary polls just a year after the massive mandate in the assembly elections?