Comments made by Yogi Adityanath, MP, on minorities drew flak from the Opposition parties even as the Bharatiya Janata Party distanced itself from them.
Speaking to a Hindi news channel on Saturday, the five-time Gorakhpur MP, one of the three leaders named by the BJP to lead its Uttar Pradesh by-election campaign, said: “In places where there are 10-20 per cent minorities, stray communal incidents take place; where there are 20-35 per cent of them, serious communal riots take place; and where they are more than 35 per cent, there is no place for non-Muslims.”
Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha said: “This is an orchestrated and systematic strategy of the BJP to polarise voters before the polls. They are targeting not just U.P. but also hoping for a pan-India impact. The fact is that the BJP made Adityanath officially speak for the party during the debate on communal violence in Parliament. This shows that their communal agenda will not be compromised whether in Opposition or government.”
Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh and BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told The Hindu that rioters had no religion. “In riots no one is Hindu or Muslim. Unfortunately, secular political parties have changed secularism to communalism. The party [the BJP] never connects religion with riots,” he said. Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla and BJP spokesman M.J. Akbar, both former Congress MPs, refused to comment.
Senior CPI leader Atul Anjan, speaking on the phone from Gorakhpur, said that despite the “love-hate relationship” between Mr. Adityanath and the BJP, his comments had revealed why he was made the party’s poll mascot. “He is being used by top leaders, including the PM, to saffronise U.P. His obnoxious comments have vulgarised political discourse and go against the spirit of the Constitution,” he said.
