Yogi Adityanath given charge of UP by-elections

New Delhi: In what is being seen as a major shift in political strategy, controversial BJP MP Yogi Adityanath will be one of the party’s key campaigners for by-elections in Uttar Pradesh. Along with Union Minister Kalraj Mishra and the party’s state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpayee, Adityanath will lead the campaign for the September 13 by-elections. 

The 42-year-old saffron-robed member of Parliament from Gorakhpur said, “We will campaign in UP…false cases have been registered against Hindus, they’re being sent to jail, insulted. SP is responsible for this.”
 

The announcement of Adityanath leading the UP campaign came a day after a provocative video of him exhorting Hindu men to marry 100 Muslim women if one Hindu woman is forcibly converted surfaced.

“If they take one Hindu girl, we will take 100 Muslims girls,” the MP is seen as saying to a crowd of about a thousand people in the undated video posted on YouTube.

Last month, he created a huge controversy with his speech in Parliament where he called on Hindus to take matters in their hands and accused opposition Congress of working on Pakistan’s agenda. Adityanath is also facing charges of inciting communal tension in his constituency Gorakhpur.

Samajwadi Party has alleged that Adityanath’s appointment is part of an attempt to polarise voters ahead of the by-elections. But BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain said, “Adityanath is an experienced, trustworthy leader. BJP has never been associated with communalism nor will it be. These are only false accusations.”

Of the 11 assembly seats where by-elections will be held, at least four are in western UP, which was torn apart by deadly riots in September last year and has been tense since.