New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who has been in the center of controversy for his communally divisive statements, has another one to add to his account. In an interview to a foreign publication, he said that Muslims who chose to stay in India when it was partitioned did the country “no favours.”
The chief minister maintained that “they should have opposed partition, which led to the formation of Pakistan.” He was speaking BBC Hindi’s Nitin Srivastava in an exclusive interview.
Adityanath’s statements come amid intense protest in the country against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, and ahead of the Delhi polls due for February 8.
His comments before the polls have earned him much criticism. The ruling AAP in Delhi appealed to the Election Commission to bar Adityanath from campaigning given his communally divisive statements.
At an election rally, the UP chief minister had earlier made provocative speeches against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal by referring him as a “terrorist.” He also alleged that the AAP is “sponsoring” the anti-CAA protests at Shaheen Bagh.
Adityanath is also infamous for relating anti-CAA protesters to “Pakistan.”