Meerut, May 8 -- Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the state had moved away from the politics of "appeasement" and "fatwas" to a model focused on development and public welfare. He also said the recent election results in West Bengal had exposed forces trying to weaken the country's social fabric through caste-based and divisive politics. The chief minister was addressing a large public gathering at Deoband in Saharanpur district where he inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 325 development projects worth Rs 2,131 crore. "Earlier, government funds were spent on cemetery boundary walls, illegal encroachments and caste-communal appeasement. Today, the same money is being used for roads, universities, sports colleges, RCC drains, expressways and the development of religious and tourism sites," the chief minister said. He referred to Saharanpur's past communal tensions and said the district had witnessed repeated riots between 2013 and 2016, but the law-and-order situation had since improved significantly under the current government. "'Fatwas' and regressive practices had tarnished the image of Deoband. But after the formation of the double-engine government in 2017, Saharanpur acquired a new identity," he said, citing projects such as the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, the Ganga Expressway, a proposed airport, industrial and logistics hubs, and the redevelopment of Maa Shakambhari Dham. "Earlier, 'fatwas' were issued from Deoband on every small matter, even on how people should eat food. We decided that neither individual freedom nor national security should be compromised and immediately established an ATS centre here," he said. He asserted that anyone attempting to challenge law and order in Uttar Pradesh would face strict consequences. "No anti-national element will be spared. Whoever tries to breach security or play with the future of youth will have to face consequences," he said. The chief minister also said that insulting "Vande Mataram" had now been brought under the category of cognisable offences. "It cannot be accepted that someone lives in India, eats India's food and sings praises of the enemy," he said. Referring to the mandate in Bengal, he said it reflected the public's preference for development, good governance and decisive leadership. He said the re-election of BJP governments in UP and Uttarakhand (in 2022) and the party coming to power in West Bengal now had demonstrated that voters reward governments which remain connected with the people....