The heated remark was made during the UP assembly's budget session.
After dreaded gangster Atiq Ahmed's son Asad, wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case, was gunned down by Uttar Pradesh police in an encounter in Jhansi today, a one-month-old statement of chief minister Yogi Adityanath is trending on social media once again.
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On February 25, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was addressing the budget session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, and during a face-off with Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav over the broad daylight murder of Umesh Pal, he said that he would completely eliminate the mafia from the state.
"Is it not true that Atiq Ahmed, who has been accused by the victim's family, is part of the mafia fostered by the Samajwadi Party, and we have only worked towards breaking its back?" Yogi Adityanath, pointing a finger at Mr Yadav, said.
Speaker, sir, he is the godfather of all professional criminals and mafias. They have crime in their veins. And I am telling this house today, I will run this mafia to the ground (Mafia ko mitti mein mila dunga)," the Chief Minister said, again wagging his finger at Mr Yadav.
Watch the video here:
The co-accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, Ghulam, was also shot dead in the encounter.
Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of carrying out a "fake encounter" to kill the son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his associate in Jhansi. He alleged that the ruling party was trying to divert the attention of the people from the real issues plaguing the state.
Mr Yadav said the BJP government did not believe in the courts and was taking the law into its own hands. He said it was not right for those in power to pass judgement on who was right or wrong and to decide who should live or die.
"With fake encounters, the BJP government is trying to divert attention from the real issues. The BJP does not believe in courts at all. Today's and recent encounters should also be thoroughly investigated, and the culprits should not be spared. Those in power do not have the right to decide what is right or wrong. BJP is against harmony," Mr Yadav tweeted in Hindi.