'Had Modi been PM in 1947…': Yogi Adityanath’s Partition claim puts Congress under fresh spotlight

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday blamed the Congress for Partition and said that, had Narendra Modi been the prime minister of India at the time of Independence, there would have been no damage to the nation. He also said that if a person like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had been prime minister then, nobody would have been able to disintegrate India.

Speaking at a function in Lucknow to mark the horrors of the 1947 Partition, Adityanath held the Congress "truly responsible for the Partition" and the subsequent massacre. "Had Narendra Modi been the prime minister of India at the time of Independence, nobody would have been able to damage India in the slightest," he said.

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He added, "If a person like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the prime minister at that time, nobody would have been able to disintegrate India ... The country had to pay a heavy price for the cowardice of these Congress members -- a character you all witnessed during the CAA protests," he added. The BJP leader also alleged that in 1947, Pakistan got the share of land which it never even asked for. He claimed that Sindh was a Hindu-dominated and Sindhi-dominated area which was forcibly handed over to Pakistan, and that Punjabi-dominated Punjab was also handed over.

Adityanath said, "Bengal was Bengali-dominated. All Hindu villages were forcibly given to Bangladesh. This shameful act was committed by the Congress, which was extra-restless for power, and on whom the country had reposed its trust. It repaid that trust with betrayal." He also alleged that the Congress was silent even when Hindus were attacked in Bangladesh. "They feared that reacting to the events in Bangladesh might cause their vote bank here to drift away. To them, the murder of Dalit Hindus holds no significance; what matters is their own vote bank," he said.

The chief minister also accused the Congress of prioritising power and treating the country as its personal property and a family legacy. He said the country became a "slave" due to infighting and divisions based on caste, region and language. "When such infighting exists, then conspiracy easily creeps in," he said.