Sant Kabir Nagar (UP), Aug 11 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said Hindus revered Sant Kabir Das despite his criticism of Hindu orthodoxy, while Muslims did not, asserting that his teachings transcended religious divisions.
Adityanath made the remarks here after inaugurating and laying the foundation stones of 201 development projects worth more than Rs 684 crore.
“Sant Kabir was from the Nirgun tradition. He spoke as much against Hindu orthodoxy, as he did against Islamic fundamentalism. But Hindus worshipped him, while Muslims would not even touch him. This is the difference,” the chief minister said in his address.
He said Sant Kabir detested hypocrisy and caste divisions.
“Sant Kabir Das ji launched a fight against hypocrisy and came here to Maghar. People believed that dying in Maghar would lead one to hell, but he said it depends on a person’s deeds whether he attains heaven or hell after death,” he said.
Adityanath said the BJP governments under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance built Kabir Academy to preserve Kabir’s legacy and promote research on him.
“Today, an academy is being built in the name of Sant Kabir Das ji, an auditorium also and, at the same time, we are also working on the construction of a corridor for Baba Tameshwarnath Dham,” he said.
The chief minister said a spinning mill in the district had shut down due to the “corrupt” ways of the Congress and Samajwadi Party governments, but plans are now underway to restart it.
He also attacked the two parties over encephalitis deaths to say that they did nothing to stem its spread while in power.
“This region used to be terrorised by encephalitis. People suffered from brain fever, but Congress and Samajwadi Party did nothing about it. I consider myself fortunate that after the BJP-led NDA government came to power, we eliminated encephalitis,” Adityanath said.
He said there was no longer fear during festivals and asserted that anyone harassing a woman or looting a trader would either go to jail or face “a journey to hell.”
The priest-politician accused the previous governments of having misplaced priorities when it came to allocating funds.
“We can create religious corridors because we have money and we want to respect India’s heritage. Earlier, there was money, but the same money was spent on building boundary walls of graveyards. That money was never spent on a Sant Kabir Academy,” he said.
Adityanath said 95,000 families in Sant Kabir Nagar have received houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, while toilets were constructed for around 3.5 lakh poor families.
More than three lakh farmers in the district, he said, have been receiving over Rs 6,000 annually under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi for the past nine years, he said.
The chief minister also said his government is working towards establishing a development authority in Sant Kabir Nagar and also on its “one district, one medical college” goal.
