Meerut: Known for his communal remarks, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath once again promotes the idea to “saffronise” the nation by appealing to the public to vote for Bajrang Bali (the Hindu God) and destroy Ali (the Muslim God).
At a rally in Meerut for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Rajendra Agarwal, Yogi said, “Tumhe agar Ali par vishwas hai to hamey Bajrang Bali par vishwas hai (If you have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrang Bali)” targeting the Congress and the grand alliance. This was in response to an earlier appeal made by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati to the Muslim voters at the Saharanpur rally. He `appealed to the crowd to vote for the BJP and save the nation from being infected by the ‘green virus’ referring to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). He further said that when Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination from Wayanad, only green flags with a crescent moon and a star were visible which shows that the Congress’s hand is with the traitors. The BJP party chief Amit Shah had passed a similar comment in another rally at Nagpur saying that during Gandhi’s rally in Wayanad, nobody could make out whether it was an Indian rally or a Pakistani rally.
People belonging to diverse religions have been staying in Western UP for decades. However, past few years have witnessed severe Hindu-Muslim riots especially in Meerut and Muzaffarnagar. In these very testing times where the atmosphere around is vulnerable and sensitive, the use of hate inciting language by a CM can agitate and antagonize anybody. This can also create a deeper divide among the two largest communities of our country. It is therefore paramount to keep in mind that inciteful speech can lead to communal violence.