Stating that ‘love jihad’ is a reality in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called upon the State government to take steps to control the problem.
Addressing a press conference on the sidelines of the Janaraksha Yatra led by BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan here on Wednesday, Mr. Adityanath said the National Investigative Agency (NIA) had found that love jihad was a fact in Kerala. Karnataka too had this problem, he said. The Kerala government should take urgent steps to control the problem of love jihad in the State, he said.
The UP Chief Minister said nearly thousand people had died of fever, including chikungunya, in Kerala. This reflected badly on the state of administration.
Mr. Adityanath deplored the incidents of political violence in the State. Most of the victims of political violence belonged to the Dalit and backward communities.
Wherever the Communists were in power, political violence was common. Kerala and Tripura and earlier West Bengal experienced violence, he said.
Addressing a public function here to mark the conclusion of the day’s yatra, Mr. Adityanath said politics was for engaging in debate and not to resort to violence.
The BJP’s yatra was to drive home the message that Kerala was not a land of jihadism or ‘Lal Salam’ but the land of Shankaracharya and Sree Narayana Guru.
