People shudder to name children ‘Gayatri’: Yogi Adityanath on rape-accused ex-Minister

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said people these days shuddered to name their children Gayatri, in a dig at rape-accused former minister and Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, who is in jail.

The chief minister made the remarks while winding up discussion on the state’s budget in the Assembly. Yogi Adityanath said his government had introduced e-tendering, a subtle reference to the alleged multi-crore scams when Prajapati was the mines minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government.

He said, “Those indulging in illegal trading of sand, gravel and other construction material will face stringent action under the law and will not be able to escape.”

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at an election meeting in Jaunpur in March had made a remark on the former minister saying, “In this country, when we do something good, we chant the Gayatri Mantra. But, the SP-Congress alliance is chanting the ‘Gayatri Prajapati Mantra’.”

A special POCSO court has framed charges against Prajapati and other six co-accused in a gang rape case after a woman from Chitrakoot alleged that they had raped her many times and even attempted to rape her daughter.