Prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday sought to ‘alert’ the public of what the Samajwadi Party government could do if it came to power by highlighting that the history and activities of people who have been given tickets by the SP show that it wants to “exact revenge” on the people of the state. Calling the SP “fake Samajwadis” (socialists) who “divide society”, he hinted that they may even end the RERA arrangement which has given relief to thousands of flat owners in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Modi was addressing his first virtual rally ahead of the assembly elections in UP, that was witnessed by BJP leaders, workers and the public of five districts covering 21 constituencies in Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Shamli and Saharanpur — all in western UP — that go to polls in the first and second phases on February 10 and 14.

Modi credited the Yogi Adityanath government of bringing the state out of the clutches of “musclemen” and “rioters”. Women hesitated to step out of their houses but the mafia roamed freely under the government’s patronage. He said that while the previous government built a few thousand houses for the poor in five years, CM Yogi has built 33 lakh houses.

With western UP comprising a significant Muslim population, he referred to the law the BJP had brought against triple talaq. To reach out to the sugarcane farmers, he said that while their dues were paid in instalments earlier, the Yogi government had speedily disbursed not only the backlog but also the dues of the current harvest season with 98% of the dues of the last season being disbursed.

Modi hit out at the SP for giving tickets to those with criminal antecedents. “We are working hard for change in UP but they (SP) have decided to exact revenge from you. The people who have been given tickets by them — their language, their behaviour, their history and activities prove that they believe in taking revenge,” Modi said.

“People of western UP can never forget that when this region was burning in the flames of a riot, the previous government was celebrating a festival,” Modi said.