If you open fire, you’ll pay for it, we warned: Yogi

The Uttar Pradesh government had sent out a stern warning to criminals as soon as BJP came to office last year that if they killed, they would have to face the consequences, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath told TOI on Sunday. “We cracked down on criminals without any bias. We did not pick and choose. We first warned them and then acted,” he said.

In an exclusive interview to TOI ahead of the two-day UP Investors’ Summit that begins in Lucknow on Wednesday, Yogi said, “Humne keh diya thha police pe goli chalaoge toh thik nahi hoga (We had said that if you fire on the police, you will have to pay for it). We can see the results today. Criminals are moving around on streets holding up placards saying ‘I am not a criminal’. There has not been a single case where a BJP MP, MLA or worker has sheltered a criminal.”

Asked whether the crackdown on criminals in the state, which saw a number of encounters between criminals and the police recently, was part of a plan to gain investors’ confidence, with poor law and order in UP traditionally being a cause of concern among industrialists, Yogi said, "When the Prime Minister and the party sent me to UP as chief minister, maintaining people’s trust became my responsibility. It was my responsibility to keep them safe and secure along with ensuring that basic needs of the people are met with."

He also sent out a strong message to the bureaucracy that red-tapism needs to end. “Technology intervention will help in countering the menace of prashashanik makarjaal” (bureaucratic wrangles). We have digitalized the system of single window clearance for industry and the chief minister’s office will now monitor every step. Officers will have to explain if a file gets stalled beyond the deadline,” Yogi told TOI.