On a day Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan and his family surrendered before a Rampur court in a fake birth certificate case, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said his government was cleaning all the "dirt", whichever form it might be.
Speaking in the state assembly, the chief minister noted, "Virus grows in dirt. There is a campaign to clean this kind of dirt."
He was apparently referring to the arrest of Azam Khan and the BJP-led state government's resolve to punish corrupt leaders.
Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan, his legislator-wife Tazeen Fatma and MLA-son Abdullah Azam surrendered before a Rampur court on Wednesday and were sent to judicial custody over Abdullah's alleged fake birth certificate.
Rampur Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Mishra told PTI that the three Khan family members have been remanded in custody till March 2.
The case relates to two birth certificates for Abdullah Azam, who allegedly also gave a wrong date of birth while filing his nomination papers for the assembly elections in 2017.
Abdullah's election was set aside by the Allahabad High Court last December. He then approached the Supreme Court, which is still hearing the case.
Rejecting the opposition Samajwadi Party's claims of vendetta politics, the chief minister asserted that his government has never discriminated against anyone.
"We have never discriminated. Our minister came and asked whether power has to be supplied to Rampur and I said it should be as it was in the past," Adityanath said.
Without taking names, the chief minister said, "Bijli to ab bahut chamak rahi hai wahan par. Bahut tezi se chamak rahi hai. Jab chamakti hai to faltu virus nahi panapte."
(It can be loosely translated as there is enough electricity in Rampur now. When there is electricity, there is no unnecessary virus)
The BJP leader's remarks on Rampur, the hometown of Azam Khan, evoked laughter from the treasury benches.
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