Lucknow, Aug. 15 -- Blaming the Congress for India's Partition in 1947, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday stated that if a leader like Narendra Modi had been present then, India would have remained undivided. Addressing a gathering at Lok Bhavan here on the occasion of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, he alleged that India is paying the price for the Congress's 'cowardice' and described the Partition as one of the darkest chapters in human history. "Driven by a lust for power, an eternal nation was pushed towards Partition and fragmented," he said. "Areas of Punjab and Bengal-home to large populations that were subsequently affected by the division-were handed over to Pakistan. During the Partition, millions were forced to abandon their homes and become refugees. It is essential to bring the agony of the massacres and displacement that occurred at that time to the attention of today's generation," he said. Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the chief minister stated that the Opposition spread confusion across the country regarding the law's provisions. "There was no provision in the law to seize anyone's land or property. Despite this, protests and attempts to incite violence occurred in various parts of the country in opposition to the law," he said. "Political parties like Congress and the Samajwadi Party were responsible for pushing the anti-CAA protests. These are the real culprits responsible for the 1947 Partition and the riots that followed. If India had a PM like Modi at that time, it would have stayed undivided. If India had a PM like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel at that time, nobody could have challenged India's unity. The country paid the price for the Congress's cowardice," he added. The chief minister stated that in Pilibhit, the documents of thousands of families who had arrived from Bangladesh were rectified, and they were provided with land ownership papers. Similarly, in Lakhimpur Kheri, citizenship was granted to distressed Hindu families who had come from Bangladesh; approximately 16,000 people were granted citizenship. The chief minister remarked that serious efforts should have been made to rehabilitate those displaced during the Partition and compensate them for their lost property, but previous governments failed to pay adequate attention to this matter. He stated that it was Congress's responsibility at the time to first grant citizenship and provide land leases to the displaced people. "They should have provided land here equivalent to the property lost or confiscated there. Instead, Congress remained preoccupied with protecting and misappropriating 'enemy property'. They were looting and plundering these assets to amass personal wealth," he stated. He also said that this property should have been distributed among the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains arriving from Pakistan. Congress members had gone to great lengths to protect the entire estate of the Nawab of Mahmudabad, he added. The chief minister also targeted the Samajwadi Party, stating that it championed individuals accused of acting against the country's independence and playing a role in Partition. "A Samajwadi Party leader named a university after a person responsible for acting against the country's independence and responsible for Partition. That same Samajwadi Party is now saying they will make him the home minister. They very well know they are not coming to power, however this also exposes their shameful mindset," he said. Recently, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav commented that "if the SP is voted to power (in the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls), Azam Khan would be made the home minister" Adityanath further stated that the tragedy of the Partition and other historical events serve as a means to understand the challenges of the present and the future. "If anti-India forces attempt to create chaos in the society using social media and other platforms, it becomes the responsibility of citizens to present correct facts and raise public awareness," he added. He stated that a strong India will emerge only when the society moves forward with a unified identity. Citing the establishment of the Khalsa Panth by Guru Gobind Singh and the egalitarian tradition of Sant Ramanand, a call was made to rise above caste distinctions and untouchability. He further said, "A developed India by 2047 will only become a reality if Uttar Pradesh develops, and Uttar Pradesh will develop only when all regions of the state-including Lucknow-become self-reliant."...