India News | No Discrimination in UP, over 30 Pc of Welfare Scheme Beneficiaries Are Muslims: CM

Lucknow, Mar 3 (PTI) Seeking to shed the tag of a government that discriminates against Muslims, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the community was drawing more benefits under the welfare schemes than its proportion in the state's population.

“The population of Muslims in the state today is 17 to 19 per cent and 30 to 35 per cent of the benefits of the schemes are being availed by the community," he said in the legislative council.

He cited the central housing scheme, free power connections, free cooking gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme and the Ayushman Bharat healthcare plan to back his claim.

Adityanath said the state government is working in an honest and transparent manner, going by the 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' resolve by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We have not discriminated against anyone. We have not indulged in appeasement but have worked in a manner that the schemes reach the doorsteps of the beneficiaries," he said.

The CM said at Independence Uttar Pradesh's economy was among the top states in the country, but gradually there has been a decline.

“Be it the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Congress or any other party, there has been a continuous decline in the state's economy,” he said, blaming the previous governments.

“By 2016, it went down to the fifth and the sixth spot. But in the recent rankings, UP has emerged as the country's second biggest economy," he said.

The CM said Uttar Pradesh has surged ahead of the states which were presented as models of development.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)