Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Defends Police Use of Force, Citing Pre-2017 Lawlessness

In a significant address at a pharmaceutical conclave on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath robustly defended the state police's operational protocols, implicitly countering narratives advocating for excessive restraint. Framing his remarks within the context of his administration's mandate since 2017, Adityanath characterized the restoration of public confidence as a challenge on par with direct crime suppression. He provided a stark retrospective analysis of the 2003-2017 period, describing a systemic environment where criminal elements openly mocked legal authority, leading to widespread public suffering. The Chief Minister emphasized that upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi delegating the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh to him, re-establishing fundamental law and order was the paramount and most complex challenge. His rhetorical question regarding police facing fire without retaliation appears designed to underscore the perceived operational necessities in confronting entrenched criminal networks, positioning measured force as a critical component of the state's broader security and governance framework. The statement reinforces his administration's law-and-order narrative, framing current policing strategies as a necessary corrective to a prior era of institutional weakness.